Prophet of Troy
by Alasse Faelivrin
Summary: Cassie teams up with the SGC to rescue a friend.
1. Chapter 1

**Prophet of Troy**

**Author: Alasse**

**Category: action/adventure, drama**

**Pairings: none**

**Spoilers/Season: Eight, pre-Threads**

**Rating:K+, PG13, **

**Summary: Cassie teams up with the SGC to rescue a friend.**

**Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1, its characters and all related entities are property of Stargate SG-1 Productions (II) Inc., MGM Worldwide Television Productions Inc., Double Secret Productions, Gekko Film Corp and Showtime Networks Inc / The SciFi Channel. No copyright infringement is intended.**

**Author's note: Hugs to all my yahell, live journal, fic frenzy and now twitter friends for pokings, readings, and general support.**

**Dedicated to Teryl Rothery, who wants to swap the lab coat for leather…**

**Part 1**

**"Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."**

_**Alice in Wonderland**_

_**She was running. Running down a long dark corridor. **_

_**Dark, but not pitch black - a dim light reflected off the gold brick walls. They were inscribed with all sorts of intricate designs and pattern, but there was no time to stop and examine them. **_

_**She could not remember what she was running from, or where she was running to, or even how long she'd been running for that matter. But the sense of urgency was overwhelming. Run. Run.**_

_**Run!**_

_**The air was cold. Not a frosty, see your breath, go play in the snow sort of cold; but a bone chilling, icy fingers up and down your spine, scary cold.**_

_**She felt as if all her hair was standing straight up on end - quite a feat as her hair was thick and reached to her waist. **_

_**Run!**_

_**And she ran.**_

_**Her panting breath and pounding heart beat in her ears in time to the slapping of her sneakers on the gold floor.**_

_**Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.**_

_**Thump thump thump.**_

_**Thump thump thump.**_

_**Surely whoever she was running from could hear her from miles away.**_

_**She rounded a corner and found herself in another long corridor exactly the same as the first one. She was a mouse running in a maze, round square after square, after square, trying to find her way to the center.**_

_**Run!**_

_**As she rounded the next corner her thumps sounded louder, echoing far ahead. She stopped for a moment, puzzled. The thumps continued, increasing in volume, heading toward her.**_

_**Just in time she leaped back into an alcove. She pressed her back flat against the wall and held her breath, trying to blend into the patterned bricks.**_

_**A troop of Jaffa marched past. The butts of their staff weapons beat the floor in syncopated rhythm with the stamping of their feet. **_

_**They marched in formation, eyes straight ahead. Not looking for her then. She held still and watched.**_

_**The marks on their foreheads were familiar, but she couldn't quite place them. Running her fingertips over the part of the wall next to her she found the same symbol repeated several times. It meant something, something important, but she couldn't remember what.**_

_**No time now to think. The Jaffa might not be looking for her, but if they did find her…**_

_**As the last one marched off around the corner from which she'd come she reached down and slipped off her sneakers. With a pang of regret she tucked them into the darkest corner. The Skechers were her favorite. Not worth her life however.**_

_**She ran more quietly down the halls now, sliding occasionally in her sock-clad feet. Corridor after corridor flew by. The air grew chiller and chiller, the light dimmer and dimmer. She was tired, but the sense of urgency pushed her on.**_

_**The halls were shorter now; she must be nearing the end. **_

_**Light blazed in front of her as she rounded the final corner. Torches were imbedded into each side of the wall; fires blazing in two orderly lines. At the end of the lines, a door - solid gold and covered with the same symbol the Jaffa wore, over and over and over.**_

_**She stopped in front of the door and placed her palms flat against it, unsure what to do next.**_

_**With a grinding noise the door parted in the center and slid open. A rush of icy air blew through the opening and extinguished the torches in a puff of smoke.**_

_**Slowly, carefully, she crept into the room. A mouse, small, insignificant, looking for the way out at the end of the maze. She whispered that thought to herself as she slipped through the door.**_

_**The room was dome shaped, and on the far side were windows against which stars flew by.**_

_**A figure sat in the center chair, back to her. Only short dark hair and leather straps across the bare pale flesh of its shoulder were visible.**_

"_**Welcome," said a familiar, but sinister voice. "I've been expecting you."**_

_**The chair swiveled around.**_

_**She screamed.**_

**Cassandra Fraiser sat up straight in her bed, hugging her knees and shivering. The clock on her bedside table blinked 5:00 in mocking red letters.**

**There was no use trying to sleep again after The Dream. Sliding out of bed she crossed to the window and put her face in front of the screen fan to dry the now warm sweat from her head and neck.**

**The first faint signs of dawn were ahead on the horizon. A suggestive lightening of the black sky to a bluish gray spread over the trees at the far end of the yard. She'd have to get up in another hour or so anyway, might as well be now.**

**She padded barefoot dawn the hall to the kitchen. Colonel, her dog, lay stretched out on the floor near the door, spreading as much of his body onto the linoleum as possible to keep himself cool. His tail thumped against the floor in greeting and he rose up on his haunches looking hopefully at the door.**

"**In a little while," Cassie told him. She opened the cabinet above the sink, took out a glass, walked to the fridge and filled it with orange juice. Almost immediately a thick layer of condensation formed around the glass, soaking her hand. **

**Carrying the glass to the butcher-block breakfast bar, she set it down and wiped her hand on her shorts. She perched on the stool and curled her toes around the rungs.**

**Virginia was hot. Way too hot. Sure, Colorado Springs had been hot too in the summer, but it had never felt so… sticky.**

**She pushed her hair out of her face, resolving for the umpteenth time to chop it all off at the first possible moment. Yeah, right. She took a long sip of juice and made a face as unwanted pulp slid down her throat.**

"**Cassie?" A small voice sounded from the doorway and a second later the room was filled with the harsh light of the fluorescent ceiling bulb. "Why are you sitting in the kitchen in the dark?"**

"**Well I'm not in the dark anymore, am I?" she answered sharply, shielding her eyes with her hand.**

**The light was switched off. "Sorry." The younger girl walked over to Cassie and looked at her apologetically, sweet with her long blonde hair and Hello Kitty pajamas.**

**Cassie sighed. "It's ok Tessa. I couldn't sleep. Why are you up?"**

"**I couldn't sleep either. And I was thirsty. Whatcha drinking?"**

"**Orange juice. But I warn you, it has pulp."**

"**I love pulp!" Tessa filled a glass, and stopped to pet Colonel on the way back. The dog obligingly rolled over so she could scratch his tummy, and she giggled.**

**Cassie watched, fidgeting on her stool. She'd thought she always wanted a little sister, but now she wasn't so sure. Tessa and Kayla were very good about sharing a room so she could have her own, and obviously admired her. She had every reason to like them. Maybe it was just that she was afraid to have sisters. After all, she couldn't seem to keep a mother around…**

**Colonel was thumping his tail against the cabinet now, and Tessa was giggling louder.**

"**Shhhh, you'll wake the others." Cassie hopped off her stool and carried her glass to the sink, pouring the rest of the juice down the drain and rinsing it.**

"**Grandpa will be up soon anyway," Tessa whispered back. She got up and walked over to the sink too. Colonel jumped up to follow her and gave them each a nudge and a soft whuff.**

**Cassie crouched down and scratched the dog behind the ears. "Let me put on some clothes," she told him, "then I'll take you out."**

**Colonel wagged his tail in reply.**

"**You're not going back to bed?" Tessa asked, wide-eyed.**

"**I have an early class, but you need to get back before your sister wakes up and finds you gone," Cassie spoke quickly, before the younger girl could ask to join them on the morning run.**

**Back in her room, she changed into jean shorts and a tank top and pulled on her Skechers sneakers to combat the wet grass. As she tied the second sneaker, she froze, remembering. She'd left them in the hallway, hadn't she? Before…**

**She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. Not now. She'd think later. Right now she needed to clear her head.**

**She grabbed her Walkman and popped in a CD at random. She clipped the Walkman to her shorts and pushed the tiny headphones into her ears. Returning to the kitchen she was gratified to see that Tessa had obeyed her.**

**Colonel was standing by the door, waiting not so patiently. She snapped his leash onto his collar, and opened the door.**

**Outside the sky had brightened considerably to a hazy light grey. Dew reflected the dull light from every blade of grass and limply hanging leaf. A mist obscured the road in the distance, and not so much as a tiny breeze stirred.**

**Cassie took a deep breath filling her lungs with warm moist air, and hit play on her Walkman. Jovial voices soon filled her head. "Another postcard with chimpanzeeeeeeeeeeeees." She smiled as she started to run. **_**I've got to find a postcard with monkeys to send to Jack.**_

**Down the road, across the street and into the park. Once inside she let Colonel off the leash and let him chose the path. A half hour later, exhausted and drenched with sweat, she had made her decision. Tonight she would talk to the general.**


	2. Chapter 2

**She stood in the center of a laboratory.**

**She remembered vaguely that she'd been in laboratories before, and they had looked much different than this. Those pictures were hazy, out of focus somehow, images coming at her with ethereal lightness and floating away just as soon as she grasped for them.**

**This, she'd been taught, was her laboratory now. She had a job to do. Didn't she?**

**She turned slowly in the dark room. The rooms in her memory were much brighter than this, many objects giving off harsh light, the glare of metallic machines, hand held light to leave nothing unexposed. **

**Here the light was soft, golden, soothing. The corners of the room and sharp edges of tables were shrouded in shadow, the light illuminating only the objects on them. **

**Silence filled the room also. The only sound in the room was the sound of her breathing, and even that seemed to be swallowed up by the shadows when she faced them. In the rooms she remembered sound was constant. Discordant high pitched sounds, anxious voices, stern commands. Were there other people in this world? She wasn't sure.**

**She took a tentative step toward the first table. Items of various shapes and sizes were laid out in an orderly fashion, some round, some square, some intricate polygons. **

**A round device of warm brown metal with an opaque jewel in the center beckoned to her invitingly. She picked it up and a warm tingling sensation spread across her hand and up her arm. The device began to hum softly, then more insistently, and the jewel started to glow, a cloudlike swirl circling inside and emitting a fine mist.**

**She dropped the device and jumped back, looking guiltily over her shoulder. The device silenced instantly and the jewel went dark. A sweet scent from its mist lingered in the air. **

**She waited, heart pounding, for the running footsteps, the voices, the worried people to rush in and see what the noise had been. Silence. So there were no people on this world. She was alone.**

**She took a deep breath and approached the table again, this time in determination. Lifting her head and squaring her shoulders, she grasped the next object laid out. This was a hexagon shaped chunk of stone, with strange symbols carved over it. She hefted it in her palm for a minute, waiting, but the stone did nothing. She ran a finger over the symbols, still nothing, only cold stone.**

**Something sparked in her memory. "There's another piece to this," she said out loud to the air. She examined the other instruments on the table, and found it, a small smoothly polished stone. Lifting the stone in her other hand, she waved it over the first one. The symbols changed. She smiled in triumph and moved the stone again. Again the symbols changed, but remained gibberish to her, squiggles and sticks. She frowned. These were obviously meant to be read. Was she supposed to understand them?**

**A sound in the corridor almost made her drop the stones. Almost. Holding tightly to them she turned quickly to see the door behind her slide open. To her astonishment, a man stepped through.**

**He was tall and lean, towering nearly a foot above her. Short dark hair, dark eyes and a dark trimly pointed beard gave him a look that she could hear someone in the back of her mind call "rakish".**

**He smiled. "Ah, my dear." His voice had a gutturally resonant layer, as if two voices speaking together. "Settling in?"**

"**Yes sir," she replied automatically, lowering the stones and standing stiffly at attention.**

**His smile faded and the dark eyes studied her appraisingly, taking on a harsh glint.**

**Icy cold fear crept up her spine. What had she done wrong? Should she not have called him sir? Her memories told her she was supposed to call those in authority sir, and this man was obviously in authority.**

**He stepped closer, gazing down on her. He took the stone with the symbols and held it from of her face. "Can you read this?" he demanded.**

**Reluctantly she shook her head. "No sir," she said quietly. The fear strengthened; she knew this was not a man to displease.**

**He placed a hand on her shoulder, gently at first and then growing tighter. "I suppose we must be patient," he said, his voice sounding anything but. "Your feeble Tau'ri mind can only learn so fast."**

**His fingers tightened like a vise and his eyes glittered cruelly. "It is time then for your next lesson."**

**Cassie waited until the quiet of early evening to approach him. Tessa and Kayla were in the den watching a video, and the housekeeper, Mrs. Norris, had gone home after Cassie promised to finish the dinner dishes.**

**Ceiling fans circulated the humid air in each room. After years of the artificial air of Cheyenne Mountain, she supposed she could see why the general didn't want air conditioning, but that didn't stop her from sweating, especially after unloading a steaming dishwasher.**

**General Hammond sat at the dining room table finishing his coffee in the relatively cool quiet of the evening. As she entered the room, dishtowel still in her hands, he looked up and smiled. "Thank you for helping, Cassie."**

"**Sure, no problem." Cassie twisted the towel through her fingers. She was never quite sure what to call him. General seemed way too formal now that she was living in his house. No way could she call him George. Though, Jack was a general now, and she called him Jack…**

**The general was still smiling at her, quizzically now. She swallowed. "Um, listen, school will be over next week, and I was wondering if maybe I could go out to Colorado Springs."**

**Hammond sat back in his chair, nodding at her. "Have you changed your mind? You'd like to apply to the academy after all?"**

**Cassie winced. "Well, I thought I should at least check it out, you know, see what it's like."**

**Hammond smiled broadly. "I'll call them tomorrow, and set something up."**

"**And do you think Jack could take me? If he's not too busy being general and all."**

**Hammond laughed. "I'm sure he can make some time for you, Cassie."**

"**Now," he continued, rising from the table and carrying his coffee cup. "Forget playing housekeeper to procrastinate, and go study. Tessa tells me you have a final tomorrow." His voice was stern but his eyes twinkled.**

**Cassie rolled her eyes. "Tattletale."**

**Up in her room, she sat cross-legged on her bed, a cardboard box in front of her. There wasn't really a test to study for; she'd told Tessa that to escape watching Lizzy Maguire. **

**She lifted the lid off the box.**

**On the top of the other contents of the box lay a folded American flag. Cassie gently lifted it out and held it in her hands. Closing her eyes she remembered the flag, cradled in Jack's large hands as he held it out to her.**

**There had been no coffin at her mother's memorial service, just a wreath, a flag, and the cold bare metal of the gate on the ramp. Cassie had stood out of sight in the control room, watching as though from an even greater distance as Sam spoke about her friend and tried not to cry. **

**When it was over and the others had left Jack and Teal'c had taken the flag, folded it carefully, and brought it to her. Unable to meet their eyes, she'd simply reached out and taken it.**

**She held it now as she had then, felt the warm softness of the cloth, ran her fingers over the smooth seams, and gazed at the brightness of the colors. There was more of Janet Fraiser in this piece of cloth than there would have been in cold grey ashes.**

**She hugged the bundle of cloth to her chest, rubbed her cheek against it. "I miss you, Mom," she whispered.**

**The world was dark. Dark, cold and empty. She could see nothing, hear nothing, and feel nothing. She floated in oblivion; pain a faint memory that was fading into obscurity.**

**There was no up, no down, no sideways. She wondered if she could touch anything by stretching out her hand, but she couldn't move her hand. If her hand was even still there. She felt only nothingness. **

**Nothing to do but wait.**

**An eternity passed and the world changed, filled with blazing white hot light. It seared into her eyes which she was unable to shut, filled every pore of her body with heat and brightness.**

**A grinding sound, the world in front of her face changed, shifted, brightness fading into darkness as a panel fell away.**

**Sighing with relief, her body rediscovered motion and she sat head rising out of the box in which she'd lain.**

**A dark haired man stood there watching her. He held out his hand, and she took it, allowing him to help her out of the box. She swayed a bit as her legs relearned how to stand, and he tightened his grip to steady her.**

**Straightening, she looked up at him. He was waiting, watching her with an expectant glint in his dark eyes as he released her hand. She was supposed to call him something. Sir? No, that wasn't right.**

"**Master," she said softly, bowing her head. Silence. She waited. His hand reached out and touched her chin, lifting her head up.**

**He smiled, and there was a white flash behind his eyes. "Come my dear," he said in a gravely echoing voice. "There is work to be done."**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sergeant Walter Harriman walked down the halls of the SGC, a swagger in his step. No longer mere "Chevron Man" as he knew he'd been called behind his back, his duties had risen in importance since the departure of General Hammond.**

**In fact, he shuddered to think where the base would be without him. General O'Neill, popular as he was with the men, and the toughest soldier you'd ever want to meet, had absolutely no concept of the day to day running of an air force base.**

**O'Neill seemed to want to fight the Goa'uld, and watch sports. Both worthy activities, to be sure, but there were so many details of base protocol; menus, schedules, supplies - did the general think that those fancy gel pens he liked but rarely actually used just materialized in his desk?**

**Walter stopped and drew a deep breath. Fortunately, he, Sergeant in Charge of Base Decorum (a title the general had bestowed upon him just last week) was up to the task of paying attention to details the general forgot or just refused to acknowledge. And some day he would receive recognition for it, perhaps from the president himself…**

**Lost in his self important reverie, Walter traveled on autopilot to the door marked Brigadier General J O'Neill, knocked once and pushed on the door. As his forehead struck the nameplate, he was rudely jerked back to the present.**

**He pushed the door again. It didn't budge. Walter scowled. The general's door was never locked when he was on base. When he wanted to hide, he was usually in Dr Jackson's office or Teal'c's quarters. Walter figured the general thought elves or leprechauns would come in and do his paperwork while he was hiding. He rolled his eyes at the thought, and returned to the matter at hand. He knocked sharply on the door, then more insistently.**

**The door opened slowly and Walter pushed his way in, turning to find a quizzical looking Sergeant Siler standing there with wrench in hand.**

"**Where's the general?" Walter demanded.**

**Siler shrugged. "He said he'd be back later when I'm done."**

**Walter stepped back and took a good look at Siler, the wrench and the new bolts in the back of the office door. "What are you doing?"**

"**Installing the general's new tactical thinking tool." Siler held up a thick white plastic board, attached to which was a hoop with a dangling net.**

"**A basketball hoop??" Walter said incredulously.**

"**Well that's what he called it," Siler shrugged again. "It's got some neat features though." He pulled down slightly on the rim of the hoop and from the box came the sounds of canned applause and an enthusiastic recorded voice 'HE SHOOTS, HE SCORES!!'**

**Siler gave half a grin and lifted the board to fit in place on the bolts. He stepped back, nodded in admiration of his work. Then he turned to Walter. "What are you doing?"**

**Walter sniffed. "Important base business," he said, hefting the mail bag with the official Property of the USAF label. He reached in and grabbed the pile off the top that was for the general. Pulling it out, he placed the mail on the desk, arranging a neat pile. On the top was a postcard sporting the shiny face of a laughing monkey.**

"**Important business, yes sir," Siler nodded wisely and turned back to his hoop.**

**Samantha Carter was preoccupied as she walked through the halls of the SCG. Complex quantum equations mingled in her brain with menu plans and grocery lists for the weekend. X's, E's, Y's. Orange juice, lettuce and did she have any coffee? Milk!**

"**Carter!"**

**Hearing her name, she stopped and backpedaled on autopilot to the general's office.**

"**Sir?"**

**Jack O'Neill was leaning back in his chair, playing with a picture of what looked like monkeys that he held between his hands. She raised her eyebrows with a slight frown.**

**He sat forward, put the picture down and folded his hands with a smile. "So, I hear you're having company this weekend."**

**Sam stared. She didn't remember telling the general that Pete was coming in for the weekend. They were planning to go house hunting, among other things. She might have told Daniel…**

"**Carter?" Jack was looking at her quizzically. He pushed the picture across the desk to her. It was an oversized postcard she saw now, from the DC national zoo, with a grinning chimp gracing the front. She flipped it over and read the signature.**

_**See ya soon, luv Cassie**_

**Oh, crap.**

**As soon as Pete had called she'd completely forgotten that she'd told Cassie she could stay with her for a week. This week.**

"**Something wrong?" Jack asked.**

**Sam swallowed. "No, it's just that I've been a bit preoccupied sir. It sort of snuck up on me." She brightened. "I don't suppose you have plans for Saturday?"**

**Jack sighed. "As it happens, I do," he said glumly. "Apparently so much protocol and ceremony and other BS has to go into the conference with the delegates from Arcata that both Daniel and I are required twenty four/ seven until they arrive." He rolled his eyes. "This is Daniel's revenge for not letting him go to Atlantis. At least there aren't any good hockey games this weekend. And I suppose naquada is a good thing - apparently these people have it in bushels..." **

**He stopped and frowned. "Why?"**

**Sam swallowed again. "It's just that, well, um, Pete is sort of in town this weekend." She blushed as Jack nodded knowingly.**

"**Ah." He restrained himself from waggling his eyebrows. "I get the picture. I'm sure she'll be fine - she'll want to hang out with all her old school friends, won't she? And I have a tour scheduled for her at the academy in the afternoon."**

**Sam nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure it will be fine, sir."**

**As she walked down the hall to her lab she added to her shopping list soda, cereal…**

_**She was running again. Hell bent for leather, as Jack would say. Whatever that meant. Running down the same dark corridor as always.**_

_**Slap, slap, slap, her sneakers beat the floor in the same old rhythm as she rounded corner after corner.**_

_**This was getting old.**_

_**The widely spaced torches flickered in the cold draft coming down the hall from the direction in which she was running.**_

_**As she rounded a corner, she heard the swishing sound of a door sliding open about half way down the corridor. **_

_**This was different. **_

_**There was no alcove for her to hide in this time.**_

_**She flattened herself against the wall, held her breath and hoped for the best. Her heart pounded so loudly she was sure whoever was in that room could hear it.**_

_**Two Jaffa, wearing not armor but leather vests and trousers, exited in a precise march. Thick leather straps were bound about their bulging arm muscles. They wheeled to their right and marched away from her, disappearing around the far corner.**_

_**After they vanished she waited, continuing to hold her breath and counting to one hundred.**_

_**Slowly she crept forward, inching toward the door. As she reached it, it swished open in greeting, and she was met by an icy blast of hair, blowing her hair straight back from her head.**_

_**The room was dark, cavern like. A dim light shone in the center, focusing like a spotlight on the structure on a pedestal.**_

_**Though she'd never actually seen one, she recognized that the box on the pedestal was a sarcophagus. Drawing closer to it, she traced the symbol on the top with her fingers. It looked like two crescents, back to back with lots of spiky peaks. The box was warm to her touch and she noticed the wind had stopped.**_

_**The box began to rumble under her fingers. She stepped back as a loud grinding sound filled the air. **_

_**There was a bright flash of white light, and an icy white cloud floated from the box. **_

_**A figure rose from the mist like Dracula from his coffin.**_

_**As the mist separated she saw a pale figure with short dark hair. It turned its head to face her and smiled.**_

**Cassie woke with a start, banging her head against hard plastic. She jerked her head back and slammed it this time into something slightly softer.**

"**Are you okay, miss?" She looked up to see a concerned flight attendant frowning at her.**

"**Yes," Cassie gulped, "sorry, just a dream." She wiped her face with her hands, hoping she hadn't drooled.**

"**Put your seat back up please," the flight attendant said. "We're about to land."**

**Cassie quickly complied, buckled her seat belt, and leaned over against the window again, trying to catch a glimpse of the Rockies. **

**Ordinarily she loved to fly. Any chance to explore, to see what was outside the confines of her home. She may have lived through more in her short life than most earth children could imagine, but it had all been for the most part concentrated on one small village on Hanka, and in Colorado Springs. She'd never even seen Canada, the land she was supposed to pretend she was from.**

**Some of her favorite memories of Janet were trips they had taken together - to the mountains, the lake, to California to see the ocean. She had been overawed by the huge rolling expanse of water that stretched on and on to the horizon. Such a small section of the planet, and yet so much diversity. **

**Aside from the flight to DC with General Hammond, the ocean trip had been her last time on a plane. She closed her eyes and from a moment imagined she was on that trip, sand and salt still on her feet from the last minute run to the beach before the airport. When she opened her eyes, Janet would be sitting there next to her, all businesslike and ready to charge ahead to the baggage claim.**

**She opened her eyes and swallowed hard as she saw the empty aisle seat with its unused pillow and plastic wrapped blanket sitting there forlornly. She turned away fixing her eyes straight and concentrating on chewing her gum as the plane descended.**

**The plane landed fairly smoothly and Cassie trudged along with everyone else to the baggage claim for her duffel bag. As she stood in the impossibly hot room watching everyone else's bags go round and round she wished she'd taken General Hammond's offer of a military flight, where they wouldn't have made her check something so small she could practically carry it on one shoulder.**

**But, no. She squared her shoulders. It was bad enough she was using the academy as a pretext for this trip. Though she knew she never would, she wanted for at least a moment the illusion that she fit in as a normal, earth-born girl.**

**The luggage carousel groaned and jerked in its circles and finally her dark blue bag rode by, flipped completely over on its handles, bottom knobs waving in the air like the legs of a dead bug.**

**She wrestled the bag to the floor, back right side up and removed the strap from the outside pocket. Hefting it up to her left shoulder, she almost fell over to her right. "Oof," she grunted. "Heavier than it looks," she said apologetically to the lady next to her. The lady just rolled her eyes.**

**Cassie carried the bag crookedly toward the exit. She'd had no idea what to pack, having only a very vague idea of a plan, so had crammed in everything she could. She entered the main terminal, looking around for Sam.**

**After examining every blonde head she could find with no luck, she dumped her bag on the ground and stretched her shoulders. Around her couples and families were hugging and kissing and reuniting loudly. She sat down cross-legged next to her bag, trying to ignore the others while she waited for them to leave.**

"**Miss Fraiser!" Cassie looked up with a start, realizing she'd heard her name three times already. The tall man walking toward her looked familiar. A biker jacket was open to reveal a torn 'Metallica' tee shirt. **_**Did they even still exist? **_**She wondered. Faded black jeans with a ripped knee, scuffed cowboy boots… She squinted up at his face, and jumped to her feet.**

"**Sergeant Siler?" She said incredulously.**

"**Yes, ma'am," he leaned down to pick up her beg, hefting it easily. "Is this all?"**

"**Um, yeah," Cassie got to her feet. "Sorry, I wasn't expecting you."**

"**Colonel Carter asked me to pick you up on my way home. She got a little behind at work, analyzing some..." Siler blinked, and looked around as if just realizing where he was. "Um, rocks. From Canada," he said loudly. **

**Cassie winced. "Sure, ok, let's go."**

**Siler led her to a double parked black BMW Z3, which was currently blocking the way of two horn blaring taxis. He ignored the taxis, tossed Cassie's bag in the back and removed an "official government business" parking plaque from the dashboard. As they peeled away from the curb Cassie learned that, yes, Metallica did still exist, and apparently all their songs were available in Mp3 format. Siler's mounted Ipod blasted metal as the mph passed 80 and she held on to the door for dear life.**

**As they squealed to a stop in front of Sam's house, Cassie uttered a brief prayer of thanks to whoever was listening and resisted the urge to kiss the ground.**


	4. Chapter 4

**This time there was no hesitation. This time she moved with a purpose. Leaving the sarcophagus behind, she strode down the corridor, head up and shoulders back to maximize her diminutive height. **

**The tight but supple leather suit conformed to her body's movements, emphasizing the muscles in her thighs. Her boots were low enough to walk quickly; high enough to make her hips sway as she walked. Snug leather across her waist lifted to raise her breasts and display her cleavage. Her arms and shoulders were bare, and the cool air of the corridor caressed her skin. **

**She felt… new. New and free - freer than ever before. **

**She turned a corner and faced a door that obediently slid open to welcome her. **

**Inside was her lab. She moved to the middle table and lifted a heavy smoothly polished stone. She waved the control over its accompanying panel and a hologram sprang to life above her. Data streamed in front of her eyes: equations, lists, diagrams; in a strange language but one which after a few seconds she easily understood.**

**This was not her work; the person who had begun it was gone, but she was to continue. Her predecessor had been so close - so close only to fail. And she would complete the experiment, claim the glory, and have only done a fraction of the work. Her lips curled in a satisfied smirk. She moved the stone and the data moved faster, skimming through to the last part she'd deciphered.**

**There were references to a machine, a device that altered the genetic code of a being. However the device had failed, and resulted in the genetic breakdown or mutilation of the subjects of the experiments. Her predecessor had had no compunction in documenting her failures in graphic detail, she was sure she could discover where the device had gone wrong, if only she had it available. Nothing matching the description was in the lab, however. She made a mental note to ask the master when next she saw him. **

**A small shiver of trepidation went down her spine at that thought. Surely, though, he would be pleased at her initiative. His displeasure seemed to lie mainly in her hesitations. She lifted her head and squared her small shoulders. **

**He would be there soon. The pattern was always the same. She would wake, and come here to the lab. Her lab, she was supposed to think of it as hers. The master would come to check on her progress, and then would send her for the lessons. And then she would wake up and the pattern would begin again. **

**She had no idea how many times she'd been through it or what her life had been like before. Occasionally a small tendril of memory would poke through - images of people, places, sounds or smells. Dwelling on them displeased the master, and sent her to the lessons.**

**She shuddered. Pain was all she remembered from the moments before she woke up. No more. She would do whatever it took to please the master, to remain here and break the pattern.**

**A swishing sound behind her told her the door to the lab had opened. She waited two seconds, and then turned smoothly, keeping her shoulders back and head high. From her diminutive height, she looked up at the man who had entered. His glittering black eyes searched her questioningly.**

**She inclined her head in respect, and then lifted it. "Master," she said, meeting his eyes. He smiled.**

"**How are you progressing?" He nodded toward the holographic images above her table.**

"**Well, my lord. However, if I might ask?" She waited.**

"**You may."**

**She moved the stone and brought up the image of the machine. It hovered above the table, revolving to show all angles. "I would like to examine this machine."**

**The Master strode around the table and looked back at her through the hologram. "I would like you too as well. Unfortunately it was destroyed, along with most of the laboratory. Everything salvageable you see here," he waved his arm gesturing around the lab. "Those responsible were of course punished." He leaned down so that she could see his face clearly. The black eyes were unforgiving. "The specifications are found in these files, are they not? You can rebuild it."**

"**Yes my lord," she replied, not at all certain that she could, but understanding that 'no' was the incorrect answer.**

**He nodded in satisfaction. "I will leave you to your work. The Jaffa will bring you anything you require."**

**As he strode through the doors, she released the breath she'd been holding. She'd succeeded in breaking the pattern; her life would continue from this point on. She permitted herself a moment of elation before returning again to her work.**

**One thing at a time.**

**Cassie took her duffel from Siler and waved as his car peeled away from the curb, the bass beat of his music lingering in the air.**

**The lights were on in the living room, beckoning warmly, but the car by the front gate was not Sam's little silver sports car but a large dark blue truck.**

**She hesitated as the front door opened and a decidedly male voice called "Cassie?"**

**Dragging her duffel behind her up the sidewalk, she squinted at the dimly lit figure in the doorway. The voice wasn't Jack's or Daniel's, definitely not Teal'c…**

"**Hi, I'm Pete," he reached for her bag with one hand and shook her hand with the other. "Sam's told me lots about you."**

**Cassie swallowed. "She left out a few details about you." **_**Like that you would be here,**_** she added mentally.**

**Pete laughed, "better looking than you thought, huh?"**

**Cassie rolled her eyes. "Um, where is Sam, anyway?" She asked.**

"**Waiting for me. I'm supposed to meet her in about," Pete glanced at his watch, "ten minutes for dinner. You know your way around the house, right? She left a bunch of stuff in the fridge for you. Hope you don't mind - this is the first Friday night we've had in, well seems like forever." He laughed, not giving Cassie a chance to say whether or not she minded, and grabbed his jacket from the hook by the door. **

"**Don't wait up," he said with a wink, and pulled the door shut behind him.**

**Cassie stood in the silent house. A week ago she'd wanted to be quiet and by herself, but now she wanted to talk to some one, and here she was, quiet and alone. Just her luck.**

**She dragged her bag down the hall to the guest room. The bed was made up with fresh sheets and there was a stack of towels on the dresser. She put her bag on the bed and unzipped it but didn't feel like unpacking. She ran a hand over the flowered blanket, amazed at how girly Sam was in her own space.**

**Leaving everything as it was she wandered back down the hall to the kitchen. Girly in decorating maybe but gourmet chef Sam was not. Cassie surveyed the frozen dinners and leftover takeout containers and made a face.**

**Grabbing the phone, she sat at the kitchen table and dialed the direct line for Jack that General Hammond had given her. **

"**General O'Neill's office," said the person who answered the phone. The voice sounded familiar but it was definitely not Jack.**

**Cassie put on her best grown-up voice. "This is Cassandra Fraiser. I need to speak to General O'Neill, it's very important."**

"**I'm sorry, Miss Fraiser," the voice answered primly. "The general is not available."**

"**Then may I please speak to Daniel Jackson?"**

"**Doctor Jackson is also unavailable."**

**Cassie wondered how Sam had managed to get time off while Jack and Daniel were busy, but didn't ask. All the SGC personnel she knew tended to be workaholic as a rule, maybe the better question was what was so special about this Pete guy that made Sam want time off. In the corner of her mind she saw her mom shaking her head at her disappointedly. **_**Snap judgment, Cassandra.**_

**She sighed. "How about Teal'c?"**

"**One moment."**

**A few short minutes later the Jaffa's gruff voice came over the phone. "Cassandra?"**

"**Teal'c!" Suddenly overwhelmed, Cassie burst into tears. "Jack's busy and Sam's out with her boyfriend, and I'm here all alone and I need to talk to somebody."**

**There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, then Teal'c said. "I shall come to get you in approximately one hour."**

**Teal'c watched as Cassie ravenously devoured French fries and catsup, pushing a few of his own onion rings in her direction as her pile diminished.**

"**Thanks" Cassie said around her full mouth, taking a large sip of Coke. "And thanks for buying me dinner. I hate airplane food." She swallowed and made a face.**

"**It is my pleasure, Cassandra," Teal'c said gravely, "I welcome opportunities to experience parts of Tau'ri culture, especially these 'diners'." He looked around the vinyl booths appreciatively.**

**Cassie laughed, "Jack told me your favorite food is donuts. Want to take me to Krispy Kreme in the morning for breakfast?"**

**Teal'c inclined his head. "If I am not required at the mountain, then I shall. But do you not have an appointment tomorrow at the Air Force Academy?"**

**Cassie picked up the last French fry and drew small circles around the plate with the remaining catsup. "I don't want to go to the Air Force Academy, Teal'c. I just used that as an excuse to get out here. I really want to talk to Sam or Jack, but Sam ditched me," her lower lip trembled, "and Jack's busy."**

"**Colonel Carter did not 'ditch' you," Teal'c reproved gently. "She is merely distracted by her upcoming wedding, something that," he glanced around the booth to be sure they were not overheard, "is difficult to plan when one is constantly going off world. And General O'Neill is involved in very important and complex negotiations, though he did express to me that he would much rather be doing anything with you. I think his exact words were 'even shopping'."**

**Cassie grinned at the image of Jack with her at the mall. She took another long sip of Coke and leaned back in her booth bench, feeling less sorry for herself. No other girl her age would have the clearance to phone the SGC after all, much less have the resident alien take her to dinner. SG1 really were her family, and she knew she shouldn't be upset that they couldn't drop everything they were doing when she called, especially when they didn't know why she'd called.**

**As if he'd read her mind, Teal'c leaned forward, folding his hands in front of him on the table. "Why did you wish to speak to O'Neill, Cassandra?"**

**She took a deep breath. "This is gonna sound crazy."**

"**I assure you," Teal'c told her, "I have known you long enough to be certain you are not mentally unbalanced."**

**Cassie smiled, and then sighed. "Okay, here goes. Teal'c, I think Mom is alive."**

**Teal'c was silent, his face grave, and Cassie waited, half expecting the stages of grief lecture she'd had from both the counselor at school and General Hammond. **

"**For what reason do you believe this?" He asked. **

"**This is the crazy part. I keep having this dream." She paused to chew her straw. "I'm on a ship, I think it's Goa'uld. It has to be because there are Jaffa there. Sometimes I hide from them. Sometimes I don't need to because they're marching away from me. I'm running down this hall and at the end I find a room. I go in and there's a woman there with her back to me. She turns around and it's mom. Then I wake up."**

"**Do you see any symbols on the ship?" Teal'c asked. "Or the foreheads of the Jaffa?"**

**Cassie nodded. "It's sort of like a moon, on its side, with horns." She squirted a blob of catsup on her plate and drew the symbol for Teal'c.**

**He frowned.**

"**What?" Cassie asked. "Is it real? Do you know who it is?"**

"**I do," he answered.**

"**Who?" Cassie pressed.**

**Teal'c frowned harder, obviously uncertain that he should tell her.**

"**Teal'c, please, tell me. It's my dream," Cassie reminded him.**

"**The symbol is that of the system lord Ba'al."**

**"Ba'al," Cassie repeated. "Like the god that couldn't start a fire in Tessa's Sunday school lesson?"**

**Teal'c nodded. "That is correct."**

"**Okay, okay," Cassie thought hard. "But I've never heard of him as a Goa'uld. Have I?"**

"**Most likely not directly. But he is the Goa'uld who held General O'Neill captive two years ago."**

"**Mom brought me to the infirmary to visit him," Cassie nodded. "She only told me that he'd been sick, but I knew there was much more to it than that."**

"**Even had you heard Ba'al's name, there is no way that you could have known his symbol," Teal'c agreed. "Which only serves to make your dreams more significant."**

"**Then you believe me?" Cassie let out a breath that she hadn't known she was holding. **

"**I believe what you have told me, Cassandra. What it means, I do not know. I have much to think about. Come," he rose and laid a pile of bills on the table. "Tomorrow morning I shall take you to Krispy Kreme for breakfast. Then we will go to the SGC and speak to O'Neill."**

"**What about his negotiations?" she asked, shrugging on her coat.**

**The corners of Teal'c's mouth twitched up in an almost frightening grin. "The general could not possibly be expected to commence negotiations without first consuming the proper amount of caffeine."**


	5. Chapter 5

**The next morning Cassie was up at the crack of dawn, dressed and ready to go. Teal'c had warned her that they would need to get to Jack before the session commenced at 0800.**

**Sam was in the kitchen, still in her pajamas, unfolding the paper while Pete made coffee. The domestic scene made Cassie want to gag.**

"**Wow, you're up early," Sam gave her a hug and a kiss. "How did you sleep?"**

"**Great, thanks," Cassie replied. "Teal'c is picking me up and we're going to Krispy Kreme."**

"**That's not a very healthy breakfast," Pete said, looking up from the Mister Coffee. "What?" he asked as both Sam and Cassie rolled their eyes at him. "She's a growing girl."**

"**I'm quite full grown, thank you," Cassie said primly. **

"**And Teal'c, I'm sure, is welcoming a chance to have his favorite food," Sam added, a twinkle in her eye. "He'll take you to the Academy too, then?"**

**Cassie almost told Sam where she was going, then looked at Pete and bit her tongue. "Yeah."**

**Sam looked at her wistfully. "Cass, I'm sorry I've been so busy this weekend."**

"**No problem," Cassie said brightly. "Like you said, Teal'c welcomes any chance to get out." The doorbell rang. "And that will be him."**

**Sam and Pete followed her to the door. Teal'c was dressed in black warm up pants, and an electric blue jacket with matching sneakers. Cassie could almost feel Pete wince.**

"**Good morning Colonel Carter, Pete Shanahan," Teal'c inclined his head politely.**

"**Morning Teal'c," Sam replied, mouth twitching. "Will you be able to bring her back too?"**

"**Indeed."**

"**Cass!" O'Neill grinned widely as she entered his office. "This is a surprise!" He gave her a huge bear hug and a kiss on the cheek.**

"**And," Cassie said proudly, "We come bearing breakfast." Teal'c stood in the doorway holding up the donut bag in one hand and the coffee carrier in the other.**

"**Ouch, isn't it a little early for that jacket, T?" Jack grabbed one of the coffees and took a long drag through the sipper lid.**

**Cassie plucked at his fatigue shirt. "How come you don't wear the full uniform like General Hammond?"**

**Jack grimaced. "Because I don't like it. This is technically uniform, besides, I'm the general."**

"**You go General," Cassie grinned.**

**Jack grinned back as Teal'c handed him the donut bag.**

"**Cassandra has something very important to tell you," Teal'c said. "I shall find Daniel Jackson and have him endeavor to stall the Arcatans until you are finished."**

**Jack's grin faded. "What's going on?**

"**Have a donut," Cassie invited; grabbing a chocolate frosted one herself and devouring it in three bites as she settle into the chair facing Jack's desk.**

**Jack gingerly plucked a plain glazed donut from the bag, and sat down, looking at her expectantly. "Well?" he said, raising his eyebrows.**

**Cassie licked frosting off her finger and swallowed. Might as well jump right in, she thought. "Why wasn't my mother's body brought back home?" She asked.**

**Jack sighed, rubbing his forehead with his long fingers. "We were taking heavy fire, Cass,"**

"**I know," she interrupted, "and you were hurt, Jack, I know that too; I'm not trying to blame you or anything, I know you all had to get out of there quick. But why didn't anyone go back for her later?"**

"**We did," Jack said softly, his dark brown eyes looking straight into hers. "We sent troops to P3X-666 the next day - Teal'c led them. They found a few bodies of the airmen from SG13, but we didn't find Janet."**

**Cassie nodded slowly, that explained Teal'c unshocked reaction last night. "No trace at all?"**

**Jack frowned. "No. We assumed her body had been destroyed, and there really wasn't much time to keep looking. Anubis could have returned any time. I'm really sorry, Cass."**

"**I know," She smiled at him weakly, feeling dizzy. "Jack, this is gonna sound crazy, I mean I've been thinking I'm crazy for the past several months, really nuts, psycho, you know?"**

"**No, I don't," Jack stared at her, "What are you talking about Cass?"**

"**She's alive." Cassie sat back at let out her breath in a rush. "Mom's alive."**

**The Jaffa's entrance dragged her from her contemplation, and as she turned to face him she surreptitiously rubbed her neck, uncertain how long she'd been staring at the hologram above her.**

**He was holding a handful of a thin gauzy gold material. "My lord commands your presence," he said tonelessly," and commands that you dress in this." **

**She took the cloth from the Jaffa who inclined his head slightly in token respect and exited.**

**She shook out the cloth and saw it was a long net-like dress that would barely cover the most intimate parts of her. A voice in the back of her mind told her this should bother her, but she could not remember why, so she dismissed it as irrelevant.**

**Reluctantly she switched off the hologram and struggled with changing into the new dress. It was slit up the sides to allow her to walk, but tight across the hips, forcing her to sway gracefully.**

**She exited the lab to find the Jaffa waiting for her. He inclined his head again and motioned that she should follow him. He led her down the corridor into an area of the ship that she had never been in. Actually the only rooms she remembered being in were the sarcophagus room and the lab. How, then, did she know this was a ship? She concentrated and felt the faint reverberant hum beneath her feet and smiled in satisfaction.**

**They stood in front of a dimly lit chamber and the Jaffa entered first through the open door. "My lord," he announced, "I have brought the woman as you commanded."**

"**Very well," came the master's clear precise voice. "You may leave us."**

**She walked slowly into the room to find it filled with candles casting a golden glow over the walls and floor. A table was laid with fruit, goblets of wine, and steaming meat.**

"**Come my dear," the master took her hand, leading her toward the table. "I have learned that your kind require rest and refreshment in order to continue to be productive. Inefficient, but unavoidable. I believe the Tau'ri have a saying 'all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy'."**

**She started at the name Jack, recovered quickly and looked to see if the master had noticed. He was still talking. "I could make you a host, I suppose, but I have no desire to foster competition, so," he laughed, "it seems I must deal with your frailties."**

**He drew her along side the table. "Eat, drink." Suddenly she realized that she was ravenous. She couldn't remember when she'd last eaten, if indeed she'd ever eaten. She tasted a bunch of grapes, moved on to bread and meat, starting with small dainty bites and progressing to large mouthfuls. She washed it all down with the wine in the goblet, as the master looked on in amusement, sipping from his own.**

**When she'd eaten her fill, she stepped back, uncertain what to do next. The master took her hand once again and led her over to where a rug of dark brown fur stretched across the floor, surrounded by candles. She was feeling lightheaded from the wine and sank down gratefully onto the fur. **

**The master knelt behind her, running his fingers lightly along her neck and shoulders. Small shivers ran down her spine. His fingers grew more persistent and his lips grazed her neck. She turned to him and placed her finger over his mouth. His glittering eyes widened but he did not protest.**

"**What is my name?" she asked.**

"**What do you remember it to be?" He countered.**

**She thought hard and spoke the first name that came to her. "Cassandra."**

"**Kassandra," he repeated. "The prophet of Troy. So shall it be." He grasped her shoulders not ungently, and pulled her down beneath him on the rug.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Teal'c stood, hands folded, before Jack's desk. "Let me go and speak to Ryac and Master Bra'tac, O'Neill. There are free Jaffa hidden in Ba'al's ranks, perhaps we can contact them, or form a new team to at least ascertain if what Cassandra has envisioned is true. You and Daniel Jackson are occupied and I am not required here."**

**Jack thought for a second and nodded. "Okay T, go ahead."**

"**Me too," Cassie interrupted.**

"**You too, what?" Jack asked.**

"**I want to go."**

"**No way." Jack shook his head emphatically.**

**Cassie set her jaw. "We're talking about my mother. This is my dream. I want to go."**

"**O'Neill," Teal'c said quietly, "I could take her with me and she could stay with Kar'yn. I am certain she would be glad of the company."**

"**Yes!" Cassie jumped in. "I'd love to meet Ryac's wife. Please?"**

**Jack sighed. "Okay, okay, I give up. But T, if anything goes wrong, ****you**** can explain it to General Hammond."**

"**Understood." Teal'c inclined his head. Cassie smiled. One step at a time. From the free Jaffa world she would decide what to do next. **

**Cassie sat cross-legged on the floor near the fire in Ryac and Kar'yn's tiny tent. For the hundredth time she wished she'd brought a book. What did people on worlds such as this with no televisions, no computers, and no stores, do all day, she wondered yet again.**

**Prepare for battles was her cynical answer as the rhythmic clanging of drilling Jaffa began again outside the thick cloth wall, amid a flurried squawking of birds. Funny how those sorts of thoughts always came to her in Jack's voice.**

**She imagined, as she'd done nearly every day of her teenage years, what her life would have been like if she'd grown up on Hanka instead of earth. It didn't seem nearly as idyllic now as it had when she'd been confined to her room and school books.**

**The tent flap snapped and she looked up to see Kar'yn standing there red-faced and fuming.**

"**Not only am I forbidden to go with my husband and his father on their mission," she said angrily, "but now I am not permitted to drill either." She threw her staff into the corner where it struck the wall and tumbled to the floor with a thud.**

"**I'm pregnant, not an invalid," she continued indignantly, "and barely even that. Look!" She pulled up her tunic to show a flat brown stomach that Cassie could have easily killed for. "You can't even tell yet!"**

**Cassie nodded sympathetically, sucking in her own tummy under her jeans. 'I've gotta run more,' she thought, 'maybe join a gym…"**

**Kar'yn continued to mutter angrily as she stamped about the tent preparing water for tea. "If Ishta were here she'd sort them out," she said, "and I wouldn't be left to prepare food for the men." **

"**I can help," Cassie offered. Though the truth was she had no idea how to cook without a gas range or a microwave. Grabbing a pile of bowls she set them haphazardly about the thick wooden table.**

"**They should be back soon, shouldn't they?'" She asked, attempting to distract the other girl from her muttering, as well as from her own lack of domestic skills.**

"**Soon," Kar'yn agreed darkly. She gathered up the bowls that Cassie had set out, piling them to one side of the table to make room for a huge loaf of bread. Picking up a knife the size of a small sword, she began to slice the bread violently. "And then Ryac shall hear me."**

**Cassie moved out of range of the fleeing breadcrumbs and watched the water in the kettle boil. "I'm sure he's just worried about you, Kar'yn," she said reasonably. "Because he loves you."**

"**And why must men show women their love by taking away their freedom?' Kar'yn demanded.**

"**It's not just men," Cassie pointed out. "My mom always drives me crazy with her 'It's because I love you honey,' and all the times she's ripped Jack's head off for stuff he let me do…" her voice trailed off, wondering what Janet would say about what Jack was letting her do right now. 'It's because I love you, Mom,' she thought.**

**Kar'yn's eyes softened and she set down the knife. "Do you really believe that your mother is a prisoner of Ba'al?" She asked.**

**Cassie swallowed. "Yeah, I do."**

"**Then we shall free her," Kar'yn said firmly, stacking the sliced bread onto a plate.**

**The girls had finished off half the loaf of bread, as well as a considerable hunk of cheese, when the sounds of drilling outside where replaced by the sounds of a landing teltac.**

**Cassie jumped up and Kar'yn frowned, waving her back down. "Stay," she commanded, tossing her head. "Let them come to us."**

**Cassie rolled her eyes but obediently sat back down. The tent flap opened and Teal'c entered followed by Ryac. Kar'yn leaned back in her chair, waiting for her husband to approach her, but then sat up straight as a third man entered the cottage.**

"**Master Bra'tac!" Kar'yn jumped to her feet, Cassie following suit.**

**Bra'tac nodded solemnly at Kar'yn and turned to bow his head to Cassie. "Cassandra," he said carefully, "It would seem that your intuition is correct."**

"**You found Mom?" Cassie looked past the Jaffa master at Teal'c, who's large face, usually impassive, was sympathetic.**

"**A woman matching the description of Janet Fraiser is residing on Ba'al's mothership," Teal'c told her. "But our sources do not indicate that she is a prisoner."**

"**There is a mysterious woman working for Ba'al," Bra'tac continued. "Conducting scientific experiments on several of the Jaffa there."**

"**Experiments? What kind of experiments?" Cassie demanded. "Mom would never do anything like that - he's got to be forcing her!"**

"**I am inclined to agree with you, Cassandra," Teal'c answered her gently. "We will have more information when our Tok'ra allies report back what their sources have learned."**

**Much as Cassie wanted to protest, she knew there was nothing she could do but continue to wait. She sat back down, twisting a crust of bread between her fingers, and let the talk of the Jaffa fade into the background.**

**This was it this time. She was sure of it. The formula was correct. She felt a fleeting regret for the Jaffa that had met their deaths with her failed attempts, but stronger than the regret was the sense of urgency. Her master was growing weary of waiting. His patience would no doubt not last much longer.**

**Yes, she was certain that this time the formula was correct. This time it had to be.**

**She held the test tube up to the light and surveyed the amber covered fluid. She shook it and a froth formed at the top of the tube. 'Like the head on a beer' she heard a strange male voice say far in the back of her head.**

**She shifted the tube from side to side, allowing the fluid to catch the light in various ways as she considered it.**

**Perhaps she had better run the simulations again. She reached for the stones, and stopped. No. This was it, for better or for worse.**

**She picked up the glass syringe with the crude rubber plunger of her own devising. She inserted the needle smoothly into the test tube, pulled back the plunger and withdrew the fluid. Raising the syringe to the light, she tapped the glass with her thumb and forefinger and expelled the air.**

**She went to the door to summon the jaffa who would be her next and final test subject. Reaching for the door control, she stopped and pulled her fingers back, regarding again the syringe in her hand.**

**If the formula really was correct this time, and the serum worked, she reasoned to herself, why would a Jaffa have it? The Jaffa would not become host to her master, but merely be sent into battle. The new found power would be only wasted in struggle with other Jaffa.**

**Why should not she herself have it? She had endured countless lives and deaths in the pursuit of her master's dream. Why should she not have the reward as well?**

**She returned to her work table and picked up a thin leather cord. She bound the cord tight around her upper arm, and with a last cautious look at the door, raised the syringe again to the light. She balled her hand into a fist.**

**She pushed the needle into her arm, pulled back the plunger to ensure that it had pierced the vein.**

**The lab was still. The only sound she could hear was that of her heart pounding in her chest.**

**She pushed the plunger.**

_**Cassie was running again.**_

_**Running down the same familiar corridor, her shoes slapping the golden pavement in the same familiar rhythm. **_

_**But this time she knew where she was going; this time she had a purpose.**_

_**She ducked smoothly aside as the Jaffa marched past. Counting to ten, she re-emerged and continued on, leaving her sneakers behind in the alcove as before.**_

_**She ran silently down the hall, around the corner. Amazing how in the dream she never was out of breath no matter how far she ran.**_

_**The door appeared in front of her.**_

_**She waved her hand over the controls and it swished open.**_

_**She ran inside and waited for the door to close.**_

_**In front of her was the long table, and the dark haired woman with her back to her.**_

"_**mom!" she called.**_

_**The woman turned around. In her hand she held an empty syringe.**_

_**A trickle of blood ran down her arm.**_

**Cassie burst out of the tent running full speed and stopping only when she was several meters away from the entire encampment. She dropped to her knees panting in the cold night air. **

**She rocked back on her heels and looked up at the sky with it's pattern of stars so different from home, and waited for her heart to stop pounding.**

"**Cassie?" said a soft voice behind her. She turned to see Kar'yn standing there holding a blanket.**

"**I couldn't sleep," Kar'yn said, "and I saw you run out." She spread the rough wool over Cassie's shoulders and sat next to her on grass. "Junior makes me sick at night as well as morning now," she continued ruefully.**

**Cassie raised her eyebrows. "Junior?"**

**Kar'yn shrugged, patting her stomach. "That's what O'Neill called him when he came to visit."**

"**So Jack thinks it's a boy?"**

**Kar'yn sighed. "He's a man, of course he thinks it's a boy. Though I would think a girl would be gentler to me." She patted her stomach again with a frown, and then looked at Cassie. "What woke you?" She asked.**

"**I had another dream," Cassie said. She shivered and pulled the blanket closer about her.**

"**About your mother?"**

"**Yes," Cassie turned to look straight at the other girl. "You know what Bra'tac said about her conducting experiments? Well in the dream I saw her doing that. But not on Jaffa. She was injecting something into herself. Kar'yn, I can't wait around for Teal'c and Master Bra'tac to decide what to do - Mom's in big trouble and I need to do something now. Only," she lifted her hands helplessly, " I can't."**

**Kar'yn regarded her thoughtfully for a moment, then abruptly nodded her head. "We shall do something," she said. "now." She rose to her feet. "Meet me by the teltacs." With that she turned and walked quickly back toward the encampment.**

**Cassie stared after her. Slowly she rose to her feet and pulled the blanket tightly across her shoulders and chest. She turned and walked obediently in the direction of the teltacs, wondering what Kar'yn was planning. **

**She approached the smallest of the ships, taking in its turtle-like design. Reaching out she touched the hull. She expected it to be cold, but instead it was warm, almost hot to the touch.**

**She jerked her hand back, and turned to see Ryac and Kar'yn walking toward her, arguing in fierce whispers. Both were fully dressed. Ryac carried a staff weapon and Kar'yn had a pack slung over her shoulder. They grew silent as they approached Cassie. **

"**Here," Kar'yn said quietly," you will need these." She held out Cassie's hooded sweatshirt and sneakers.**

**Feeling as though she were back in a dream, Cassie took the sweatshirt and put in on over the tee shirt and yoga pants she'd been wearing as pajamas. As she pulled her sneakers on over her bare feet, the surrealness of the moment increased. These same shoes had been a part of every dream she'd had. She tied them tightly and stood in front of the Jaffa couple, drawing a deep breath.**

"**Okay," she said. "I'm ready. For whatever it is we're going to do."**


	7. Chapter 7

**Blackness surrounded her. She lay still, waiting patiently for the blinding white light that came at the end of the sarcophagus's healing.**

**No bright light came this time, blackness remained. She sighed and began the long swim alone toward consciousness. **

**She was aware first of the cold hardness beneath her. Pressing her palms down she felt the floor tiles spreading out from her in all directions. She moved her hands to her body and felt up and down. Everything seemed intact, but her skin was unnaturally hot to the touch.**

**She opened her eyes next. Slowly and carefully; the lids felt as if they were made of lead. The ceiling of the lab came into view, far away and through a great haze. **

**Slowly she pushed herself up to a sitting position and waited for the room to stop spinning. Grabbing the edge of the table, she pulled herself to her feet and remained there, leaning over the table for several minutes as she caught her breath.**

**Unsteadily she made her way to the door, gripping furniture and walls to support her as she went. She waved at the door controls. The door swished open, and her Jaffa guard stared at her with apprehension.**

**Do I look different? She wondered to herself. She held her head erect and looked directly at the Jaffa. "I require food," she told him, and watched his shoulders sag in relief. He'd thought he was to be her next test subject, she realized, as he hurried away on his errand. She stepped back into the lab and let the door close.**

**A bit steadier now, she walked back to the table. She would be stronger after she ate, she told herself, and picked up a piece of reflective metal with slightly shaking hands.**

**Her face looked no different, but for a flush in her cheeks, and eyes brighter than usual. Her hair was in complete disarray from her time on the floor. She smoothed it into place, wondering how long she'd been unconscious. Not too long, as no one had come in to find her and she was rarely uninterrupted for more than a few hours at a time.**

**The double helix of human DNA spun in a hologram above her, its modifications then end result that she was hoping to create. She inserted a tiny needle into her arm, aspirated a few cells and placed them into the scanner. While waiting for the results to be analyzed she recorded objectively into her log the sensations the "test subject" was undergoing. **

**She felt no different, actually. Aside from a elevation in body temperature that would be her immune system trying to fight the changes, and a slight weakness there was nothing. She selected an object from the table at random and stared at it, concentrating. **

**The object didn't budge. She stared harder. There, did it shift a little to the side? No, it was her imagination. Disappointed, she sank down onto the stool next to the table and squeezed her hands together to control the trembling.**

**The door opened, admitted the Jaffa she'd sent for food. She forced herself to sit upright and perfectly still as he set out the trays and scuttled back out the door.**

**As soon as the door swished shut behind the Jaffa, she was off the stool and into the food, grabbing in her hands and stuffing meat, bread and fruit into her mouth.**

**Finally sated, she came to her senses and stared at the wreckage of her meal with dismay. She washed her hands and cleaned up the table before realizing she wasn't shaking any longer. She still felt warmer than usual, but no longer fever hot. She felt strong, very strong - invincible even. Flexing the muscles in her arms showed no difference there, but yet they felt larger. Her eyesight seemed keener; colors and textures perceptibly sharper. **

**She lowered her hands and concentrated on the empty plate that had held her food. Once again the object did not budge. Frustrated, she swung out her arm and swept the plate from the table. It fell to the floor and bounced on the stones with a loud clatter.**

"**Kassandra?"**

**She whirled to find the Master standing in the doorway. With a gasp, she straightened herself and clasped her hands behind her back. Taking a deep breath she lowered her eyes. "Forgive my clumsiness, master."**

**He frowned. "Is there a problem?"**

"**No my lord," she said quickly.**

"**The formula?"**

"**Almost complete my lord." She held her breath.**

**Continuing to frown he glanced around the lab, eyeing the wreckage of dinner on the work table and the spinning hologram above it. "You will notify me when it is completed."**

"**Of course my lord."**

**He turned on his heel and left the lab. She closed her eyes for a moment, releasing her breath. The small blue light on the scanner blinked at her; results were ready. She moved the stone next to it and a second helix spun in the air next to the first. She studied them with a deep frown. They were identical. Her formula had been correct. Why then did she possess no new abilities other than heightened senses and a faster metabolism? She clenched her fists in frustration and continued the entries in her log.**

**Cassie sat on the floor of the teltac, leaning back up against the wall with her arms wrapped around her knees. Ryac continued to argue with Kar'yn as he guided the small craft through hyperspace.**

**Ignoring them, Cassie pressed her back flat against the wall and stared out at the stars streaking by. Though she'd been through the Stargate, she'd never been in space before. She'd expected it to feel like flying, but she felt no motion whatsoever, and her ears weren't popping like they did in a plane either.**

**She supposed she should be frightened, but the whole situation didn't seem real to her yet. Kar'yn had taken her at her word that they had to act now and here they were hurtling through space in search of the last known coordinates of Ba'al's ship. What they would do when they got there, she had no idea, and she wasn't sure that the others did either. **

**Not for the first time, she wished that her dreams went further than finding Janet on the ship. For all she knew she'd be killed the next second. Cheerful thought. She closed her eyes and imagined that Jack was with them, sitting across from her with his scary looking gun spread across his lap. He would know exactly what to do.**

**She must have dosed off, and when she opened her eyes the first thing she noticed was silence. Ryac and Kar'yn had stopped arguing. They were staring uncertainly at the view screen.**

"**What's going on?" Cassie asked, climbing to her feet and coming to peer at the screen. The words faded on her lips as she stared at the ship dwarfing them. Forget ship, it was a floating city in front of her. **

**The ship looked like an Egyptian exhibit she'd seen once at Disney World, only bigger. "Can they see us?" she whispered. **

"**No," Kar'yn whispered back.**

"**They can't hear us either," Ryac said loudly, making both girls wince. He rolled his eyes. "We're cloaked."**

"**So that means we're like invisible?" Cassie still whispered.**

"**Yes. Though," Ryac swallowed, eyes still on the ship. "We'd have to disengage the cloak in order to use the rings."**

"**Rings?" Cassie frowned. She knew she'd heard that term before. "Oh, right, the transporter things." Thank God for Star Trek. Then what Ryac was telling her hit home. Rings to transport over to… that. She felt cold sweat break out on her back. Funny how her dreams never showed how she got on the ship in the first place. If she'd really thought about it she'd never have got this far.**

**Ryac and Kar'yn were looking at her expectantly. She squared her shoulders. "Alright then, let's do it. Transport me over." She turned around to where she thought the ring shapes were, hoping her voice wasn't shaking.**

**She felt a hand on her shoulder and turn to see Kar'yn standing there looking at her solemnly. "I shall go with you," the other girl said.**

"**No you will not!" Ryac jumped to his feet. **

**Kar'yn turned to stare at him angrily. "We cannot let her go by herself! And I am no pilot - we need you here to operate the cloak and rings and keep away from their weapons."**

**Ryac folded his arms stubbornly.**

"**Please," Cassie interrupted, "You've already done more for me than you should have - it's alright, I'll go by myself."**

"**And after you find your mother, what then?" Kar'yn demanded.**

**Cassie shrugged weakly, the cold chill returning to her back.**

**Ryac threw up his hands. "I thought you said she had a plan," he said, glaring at his wife.**

"**She does," Kar'yn said confidently. "It's all in her dream."**

"**Actually, the dream sort of ends when I find my mom," Cassie said, wincing as Ryac glared at her now.**

"**You must have taken lessons in planning from O'Neill," he muttered. He bit his lip and looked back at the view screen. "Well we've come too far to turn back now. If we do we'll be the laughing stock of all the free Jaffa."**

**He handed them two small headphones. "Put these on then, I want to stay in contact with you at all times."**

**Cassie slid the headphone into her ear; it fit like her hands free cell phone set did, only a bit lighter. Kar'yn watched what she did and followed suit, frowning uncertainly at her husband.**

"**Where did you get these?" Cassie asked.**

**Ryac looked sheepish. "O'Neill gave them to me," he said, "as a wedding present. He said I should always know what my wife is up to." He avoided looking at Kar'yn, who sniffed. **

"**You tap your ear to talk," he continued. The girls tried it, and jumped as their voices came out of a speaker on the console panel.**

**Ryac nodded. "Good. I will decloak the ship now." He looked briefly at Cassie and then longer at Kar'yn. "**_Ral tora ke_**" he said quietly. He moved a knob on the console and the girls stepped into the circle made by the rings.**

**With a shimmering metallic sound the rings rose to surround them, and the ship disappeared in a flash of light.**

"**They did what??" General Jack O'Neill shouted, jumping to his feet and in the process pushing the coffee mug he'd brought into the control room perilously close to the edge of the console. **

**Walter reached quickly past the general, snatched the coffee mug and pulled it safely out of thrashing distance, splashing out only a few drops in the process.**

**On the computer screen, Teal'c's face remained impassive. "Ryac, Kar'yn and Cassandra are missing," he repeated. "As well as Ryac's teltac. We believe they have gone to find Ba'al's mothership."**

"**Of all the stupid, idiotic," Jack started to say something a bit stronger then looked around him at his subordinates and bit back the words. He was a general now, after all. "Stupid stunts," he finished lamely.**

"**Indeed," Teal'c agreed gravely.**

**Jack ran his fingers through his close cropped silver hair, thinking rapidly. "I'm coming."**

**Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "O'Neill?"**

"**With you," Jack clarified. "I assume you are planning to go after them."**

"**Of course. Master Bra'tac is preparing a ship as we speak."**

"**Good. Wait for me. I'll be there in…," Jack glanced at his watch. "Fifteen."**

**The Jaffa bowed his head, and his image vanished from the computer screen to be replaced with static. Jack turned on his heel toward the door.**

"**Walter!" he barked.**

"**Here sir," said the sergeant's voice a few inches below his ear.**

**Jack jumped, recovered his composure, and looked down at Walter. "Get Carter here ASAP," he said. "She's coming with me."**

"**Yes, sir."**

"**And Walter," Jack called over his shoulder and he headed back to his office with a loping gait. "You can refill that coffee while you're at it!"**

**The rings descended to the floor below her, and Cassie found herself in the hallway of her dream. Kar'yn crouched beside her, zat gun in hand. "Quickly," the Jaffa girl murmured. "The power drain from the rings will alert them to our presence."**

**Cassie nodded. "This way," she whispered back, and took off at a fast jog down the hallway, Kar'yn at her heels. Kar'yn's soft leather boots made no sound on the smooth stone floor; her own sneakers made the same rhythmic slapping noise she'd heard every night for weeks. She settled into her stride and reached the alcove where in the dream she hid from the Jaffa. **

**She darted into the alcove, pulling Kar'yn behind her, and waited pressed up against the wall. They could hear the sounds of Jaffa marching in the distance, but the clanking steps seemed to be growing more distant, not closer. **

**Cassie frowned. Well it did stand to reason that nothing would be exactly the same as the dreams. For starters, Kar'yn was here and in the dreams she was alone. She took off her shoes anyway as a precaution, pushing the Skechers to the back corner of the alcove.**

**Cassie padded back out into the corridor, slipping slightly in her stocking feet. Kar'yn was close behind her, zat gun sprung and ready to fire. As the Jaffa steps faded the air became so quiet that all Cassie could hear was the sound of her heart pounding in her chest, threatening to burst through her eardrums. She shivered as she stared down the dimly lit corridor. Flickering torches on the walls sent slim tendrils of silvery smoke toward the ceiling.**

_**Kar'yn, Cassandra, can you hear me?**_

**Ryac's frantic voice in her ear made her gasp and jump. Her right foot slid out from under her and she caught herself on the wall.**

"**We're all right," Kar'yn whispered back, pressing her ear with her forefinger. "We're in a deserted corridor; no Jaffa in sight."**

_**The ship is making random sensor sweeps, **_**Ryac said. **_**I haven't been detected yet, but they are suspicious. Whatever you are going to do, you need to do it quickly.**_

"**Right," Kar'yn acknowledged, looking at Cassie.**

**Cassie nodded, took a deep breath and turned to continue down the corridor. "This way," she said, continuing the path from her dream.**

**Ryac ignored the hail the first time it sounded, instead shifting position of the teltac slightly and watching anxiously for signs of weapons or gliders. It wasn't till the third insistent hail chime that he realized the frequency was friendly. He moved the stone to answer the signal but did not speak.**

"**Ryac," boomed the voice of his father throughout the cabin. Wincing, Ryac put him on the screen and squared his shoulders against the dark countenance of Teal'c.**

"**Yes Father," he answered. Teal'c was unceremoniously pushed aside and replaced by the livid face of General O'Neill.**

"**What the hell do you think you're playing at?" he demanded. "Where's Cassie? If anything's happened to that girl, Ryac, I swear…"**

**As Ryac watched O'Neill was in turn pushed aside, albeit more gently, and replaced once again with Teal'c. "You will answer O'Neill's question," Teal'c stated, with no outward sign of emotion, though Ryac could see the barely contained anger smoldering in his father's eyes.**

"**Cassandra and Kar'yn are on the ship," Ryac answered. "I just spoke to them. They are attempting to locate Cassandra's mother."**

**O'Neill edged in next to Teal'c and glared at Ryac again, slightly calmer this time. "What's done is done, I suppose." He sighed heavily. "Any bright ideas for what we do next?"**

"**I was planning to contact them again if I did not hear from them in…" Ryac glanced down at the chronometer, "ten minutes."**

"**How are you contacting them?" O'Neill asked. **

"**From the ship to the two headsets you gave me as a wedding present."**

**Teal'c looked at O'Neill with a raised eyebrow. O'Neill shrugged. "Well they came in handy apparently. What frequency, Ryac?"**

**Ryac told him.**

"**Got it sir," called a female voice behind O'Neill. Ryac recognized Colonel Carter.**

**O'Neill nodded. "Okay, we'll take it from here. Carter, try to contact them. Ryac, you stay put and stay cloaked. If we tell you to scram, you scram, you got that?"**

"**But," Ryac started to protest.**

"**Obey the general." Teal'c's voice was firm as always. "We shall watch over your wife as well as Cassandra."**

**An empty promise, Ryac knew. His father's ship was not much bigger than his own, and if they were discovered there was little even the two ships could do against a warship the size of Ba'al's. They're only hope was that the girls would find what they were looking for quickly and return to the rings before either ship was detected.**

**The corridor led the girls to another corner, and again Cassie followed her dream and turned to the right. She stopped immediately and leapt back, pressing against the wall. "One Jaffa guarding the door," she whispered to Kar'yn.**

"**Are you certain that is the correct door?" Kar'yn whispered back.**

**Cassie started to tell her that it was the one from her later dreams, thought better of it and simply nodded yes.**

"**Right." Kar'yn took a deep breath and tightened her fingers around the handle of her zat. She edged past Cassie, sliding just her head and hand around the corner, took careful aim and fired the zat. There was a crackling sound, a cut off cry and a thud.**

**Kar'yn stepped around the corner. "I got him," she whispered, her eyes wide with surprise. The surprise faded quickly as Cassie followed her. "I've always been a better shot than Ryac," she muttered, tossing her head. **

**They neared the doorway to see the Jaffa writhing half conscious on the floor. Kar'yn bit her lip and cast an apologetic look toward Cassie. "We cannot allow him to summon help," she whispered, and fired the zat a second time.**

**The Jaffa stilled, dead.**

**Cassie felt bile rise in her throat and she turned her spinning head away, taking deep gulps of air. Kar'yn touched her shoulder. "We must hurry," she whispered. At that moment a familiar voice sounded in her ear.**

_**Cassie, Kar'yn.**_

**Cassie started and stared at Kar'yn who was frowning in confusion. She pressed her ear as the other girl had done before. "Not now Sam," she breathed. Releasing the ear piece, she waved her hand in front of the sensor.**

**The door slid open. **

**The door slid open.**

**She looked up from the stones, hoping it was the Jaffa with food and not the master checking on her progress. She'd made none since his last visit. Her hand nudged a stone into its bay and the whirling hologram vanished. She turned to face the door and frowned in surprise.**

**No Jaffa, no master; just two young girls who looked equally surprised. One was dressed up like a Jaffa and holding a weapon, pointed right at her. The other took a step forward in her stocking feet and held out her hand. "Mom," she whispered.**

**She blinked. Stepped back. **

"**Mom," the girl said again. "It's me."**

"**I don't like this," the Jaffa girl muttered, holding her weapon steady. The other girl ignored her and took another step forward.**

**She reached behind her feeling across the stone work table for something that she could use to defend herself against the Jaffa. Her fingers closed on the same smooth round stone that controlled the holographic display. **

"**I don't know who you are," she said. "But you should not be here. Please leave at once or I shall summon help."**

**The girl's eyes widened. "It's me, Cassie," she said, pleadingly. "Your daughter!"**

**The girl's words tugged at something deep inside of her, but they were false. They had to be. The multiple scans she'd run on her own body had shown no indication that she had ever given birth. "No," she said firmly. "I am not your mother."**

**The Jaffa girl stepped forward and grasped the other girl's elbow. "Cass come on," she said. "Let's get out of here."**

**Too late. The door opened behind them, admitting two Jaffa.**

"**Seize them," she ordered, releasing the stone and squaring her shoulders.**

**The Jaffa girl whirled, but the weapon was easily knocked from her hands by the large man behind her. He twisted her arms behind her back and held her pinned as she cursed and struggled.**

**The other girl got in a couple of kicks before she was likewise pinned, though they must have hurt her own stocking feet more than they did the armored Jaffa.**

"**It took you this long to catch what - two little girls?" Irritation warred with amusement in the master's voice as he entered the room. "I need to find myself some more competent Jaffa."**


	8. Chapter 8

"**She said what?" Jack asked incredulously.**

"'**Not now, Sam,'" Sam repeated, shaking her head. "I lost contact after that - she must have disconnected. Either that or she's just not responding."**

"**That's it," Jack got out of his seat and started walking toward the back of the little ship, P90 in hand. "I'm going over there."**

"**O'Neill," Teal'c swiveled in the pilot's seat and regarded him with a frown. "I do not believe that is wise."**

"**Probably not," Jack sighed. "But I can't just sit here. Toss me your Zat."**

**Still frowning, Teal'c threw the zat'nik'tel across the ship to Jack, who caught it easily in his left hand.**

"**Thanks. Now ring me."**

**The Jaffa raised an eyebrow, but turned back to the console.**

"**Wait," Sam said. She grabbed her jacket from that back of her chair. "I'm coming with you."**

"**What? Oh no," Jack shook his head emphatically and motioned her to sit back down. "You are going nowhere."**

"**Than neither are you. Sir." Sam folded her arms. "Air Force regulations clearly state that a two star general shall not enter a combat zone unescorted."**

**Jack stared at her, mouth open, then turned to Teal'c.**

**The Jaffa shook his head. "Do not look at me O'Neill. I am not nearly as familiar with all of your military protocols as Colonel Carter."**

"**Alright, alright," Jack glared at Sam but said nothing more to her as she came to stand next to him in the circle. "Ring us."**

**They rematerialized in a dimly lit corridor. They immediately formed up back to back, weapons at the ready, as they were met with… Silence.**

**Jack lowered his zat a fraction and turned to Sam, frowning. "Where is everyone?" he whispered.**

**She shook her head, also frowning. "Otherwise occupied?" she whispered back, a sinking feeling in her gut.**

**A second later the clattering of armored Jaffa legs on the run answered their question. As one they flattened themselves against the wall. The two Jaffa ran almost past them before skidding to a stop, only to be met by two quick blasts from Jack's zat.**

**"Okay," Jack murmured as he pulled the helmet from the head of the closest Jaffa and handed it to Sam. "Don't know about you, but I'm thinking the action is thataway." He jerked his head in the direction the Jaffa had been running.**

**"I'm thinking you're right, sir." Sam tucked the helmet under her arm, and helped Jack slide the breastplate over his head.**

**"Guy could have been a little bigger," he grunted as Sam gave the suit a forceful tug.**

**"Suck it in, sir," she advised him, a little too cheerfully, he thought. His suit fastened, he turned to help her into the smaller one.**

**Clanking armor and helmets in place, and the stripped Jaffa secured out of sight, they hurried down the hall.**

**At the next fork, Jack stopped and held up a hand. "I'm too old for this," he muttered, panting. "Too much riding a desk."**

**"Doesn't help that this ship is bigger than a small planet," Sam said reassuringly. **

**"So why aren't you breathing hard?"**

**"Sir," the retort died on Sam's lips, and she pushed past him toward an alcove in the wall. A white string protruded slightly onto the gold brick. She bent awkwardly in the armor, and pulled out a pair of sneakers.**

**"Cassie's," Jack murmured. **

**A sharp cry sounded to the right; a young girl's voice.**

**Sam threw the sneakers back into the alcove, and took off down the hall, the general clanking at her heels.**

**Cassie struggled in the iron grip of the Jaffa that held her. Out of the corner of her right she could see that Kar'yn was faring no better. An angry red mark stained the other girl's cheek, and she was visibly sagging against her captor.**

**"Mom, please," Cassie appealed again to Janet, though the eyes that looked back at her were not Janet's eyes. They were cold and hard, but at least they were not glowing like the eyes of the man who stood next to her, his lips still curled at the edges in a sinister snarl.**

**He must be Ba'al, she knew with an icy certainty in her stomach, the goa'uld who had tortured and almost broken Jack. And if he could do that to a man as tough as the general, how much more could he do to her mother? At least he'd not made her a goa'uld. Not yet. And even then Cassie decided, lifting her chin, there was still hope. Janet was alive, talking breathing, looking at her. She was alive, and Cassie would never give up.**

**"Mom," she lowered her voice, trying to make it sound less panicky, though she was sure everyone in the room could hear her heart pounding like a snare drum. "Please, just listen to me."**

**Was it her imagination or was there a sudden glint of uncertainty in Janet's dark eyes? **

**Ba'al was watching her intently as well. The doors swished open to reveal a panting Jaffa. "My lord, we are detecting a ship."**

**"Of course you are," Ba'al replied sardonically, his gaze not leaving Janet's face. "Destroy it." He waved the Jaffa away with a flick of his fingers.**

**Cassie did not dare look at Kar'yn. Ryac would have to fend for himself but she spared a quick thought for him, hoping he had the sense to cloak and move away. She kept her eyes fixed on her mother.**

**"Kassandra," Ba'al said.**

**Cassie started, but the goa'uld was not looking at her.**

**"This girl claims she knows you," he continued. "Is she your child?"**

**"No, master," Janet looked away from Cassie. "I have no child." Her voice was firm.**

**Ba'al smiled at her. "Perhaps she would be a good candidate for the next phase of your experiment." **

**Janet inclined her head. "My lord."**

**There was a low whistle and a smooth round rock resting in a bowl protruding from the wall began to glow. Ba'al took his gaze from Janet and walked over to the rock. He touched it and a hologram of the jaffa that had just been in the room appeared.**

**"My lord, the ship has been destroyed."**

**"No!" Kar'yn bit back the cry as soon as it left her lips.**

**Cassie winced. For a split second she saw Janet look at her. The uncertainty was back in her eyes.**

**The door swished open again and two more jaffa entered. Ba'al turned from the stone and folded his arms. "I wont ask what took you so long, this time," he said dryly. "Take the prisoners to the holding cells. We have disturbed the doctor long enough." **

**One of the newcomers grabbed Cassie's arm and tugged her away from the jaffa holding her. She gasped as she looked up into bright blue eyes.**

**"Shh," Sam hissed, and propelled her in front of her out into the corridor.**

**"Father," Ryac held one finger on the comm, eyeing the flashing red light next to it on the panel. "The mother ship has detected us."**

**"We have both been cloaked most of the time," Teal'c's voice echoed in the hollow cockpit. "Unless General O'Neill and Colonel Carter have been discovered, it may be that they do not know there are two ships."**

**"What should I do?"**

**"Decloak and prepare to bring me aboard on my mark."**

**Ryac deactivated the cloak, and waited. He'd been caught up in Kar'yn's excitement to strike out on their own and rescue Cassie's mother; now he was happy to leave the situation in his father's capable hands.**

**"Now!"**

**Ryac touched the controls and the rings rose and descended in a flash of light, leaving Teal'c in the center of the bay.**

**"Cloak now," the older jaffa ordered, moving swiftly to slide into the seat next to his son.**

**"Where is your ship?" Ryac squinted at the view screen.**

**"Directly below us." Teal'c maneuvered the teltac away from the mother ship, revealing that the other ship was indeed directly below Ryac's, almost touching.**

**There was a burst of fire from the mother ship, and the exposed teltac exploded in a ball of flame.**

**Ryac swallowed as he looked at the smoldering remains of his father's ship. "What do we do now?"**

**"We wait," Teal'c replied, his face impassive. "If we are fortunate, they think we are destroyed, and O'Neill will contact us soon."**

**"I hate waiting," Ryac muttered, twisting his fingers into the hem of his tunic. "So does Kar'yn."**

**Teal'c gaze softened as he look at his son. "Do not fear, Ryac, as O'Neill would say 'everything will be peachy'."**

**Ryac raised an eyebrow.**

**Teal'c shrugged. "I do not understand the reference to fruit either, but I have every confidence in General O'Neill's abilities, and so should you."**

**Ryac nodded, but wondered why those words did not make him feel better.**

**Once they were a safe distance from the other Jaffa, Cassie and Kar'yn were gently pushed into a empty room.**

**"Is this the prison section?" Sam asked, pulling off her helmet and peering around the dimly lit room.**

**"Hell if I know." Jack's voice was gruff as he pulled off his own helmet and fluffed his short grey hair. "It's an empty room, that's good enough for me."**

**"General O'Neill!" Kar'yn's eyes were wide.**

**"In the flesh. Oof." Jack grunted as Cassie launched herself into his arms. "What has George been feeding you?"**

**"Ba'al said the ship was destroyed," Kar'yn said urgently, interrupting Jack and Cassie's reunion. **

**"Destroyed?' Sam frowned.**

**Kar'yn nodded. "Right before you came in."**

**Keeping an arm loosely around Cassie's shoulders, Jack tapped his earphone. "Teal'c do you read?"**

**"Loud and clear, O'Neill," Teal'c's voice answered in his ear. Jack gave a thumbs up to the others.**

**"Ryac?" Kar'yn pressed.**

**"T, rumor over here is the ship was destroyed."**

**"Mine was," Teal'c replied. "I am with Ryac, awaiting you. Have you found Janet Fraiser?"**

**"Yes and no. We're on our way." Jack released the ear piece. "Teal'c and Ryac are on Ryac's ship, the other was destroyed." He smiled gently at Kar'yn as she sagged back in relief. "They're waiting for us. Time to go."**

**"What?" Cassie pulled away from Jack. "We've got to get Mom first!"**

**Jack sighed. "Cass, honey, it didn't look to me like she wanted to go."**

**"He's brainwashed her or something. We have to get her out of here, Jack. Sam?" Cassie turned to the other woman with a pleading look.**

**Sam squeezed Cassie's hand. "Sir..."**

**Jack rubbed his temples, feeling the makings of the headache of the year starting behind his eyes. He was surrounded and beaten, and he knew it. "Okay, fine. Carter, you take the girls back to the rings, get the hell out of here. I'll go back for the doc." **

**"No way." Cassie folded her arms. "I'm staying with you."**

**"Cassie," Jack's voice took on a hard edge.**

**"She's my mom, and I found her in the first place. She knows me, I could tell when she looked at me." Cassie took a step closer to the door. "If you try to make me leave, I'll scream, and bring all the jaffa in here."**

**The others stared speechless at Cassie's threat.**

**"Oh for cryin out loud," Jack bit back the words he had really been going to say. "Kar'yn, will you please go with Carter, and keep your husband and father in law from killing me?"**

**Still wide eyed, Kar'yn nodded and edged toward the door, followed by Sam.**

**"Thank you. Carter, if the teltac is noticed, you scram, got it? No arguments." he held up his hand and glared at her with his best 'I'm the general and I say so' look.**

**"Yes sir," she said quietly, guiding Kar'yn by the arm.**

**As they disappeared into the corridor, Jack turned back to Cassie. "I assume you have a plan?" he asked dryly.**

**The girl had looked familiar, that she could not deny. But the evidence of her own examinations proved that she was not her child. She did not know how to explain the mixture of emotions that flooded through her when the girl used that name - "Mom."**

**"Is everything alright?" The master had lingered behind after the jaffa had taken the girls away. He was leaning casually against the table, but his voice was tightly controlled. Something was worrying him.**

**"Fine, my lord." She realized her fists were clenched, and forced her fingers to slowly relax. She felt flushed, overheated. Just the drug, she told herself. "I need to get back to work, with your permission."**

**"Of course," He pushed himself up straight and smiled at her. "Tell the jaffa when you are ready for the girl." He gestured toward the syringe lying empty on the counter, and raised an eyebrow. **

**"Soon, my lord," she said quickly. "Within the day."**

**Satisfied, he nodded. "Until later then, my dear."**

**She heard him give sharp orders to the jaffa as the door swished closed, and then she was alone. For a moment the room tilted to the side, and she grabbed the edge of the table for support. Cold sweat poured down her back, and her fingers shook as they curled around the smooth edge. **

**Taking deep breaths, she waited for the episode to pass, before trying to move again. She stared at the objects on the table one at a time, willing for them to move. Nothing. She sighed heavily, and went back to the hologram. There must have been something in the notes that she had missed. She scrolled through quickly at first, and then more slowly, repeating the words to herself aloud. The tongue no longer sounded strange to her ears.**

**Wait. There! She scrolled back and stared at the image slowly turning in the hologram above her head.**

**It was the girl.**

**She was from the world where her predecessor had conducted the first of her experiments. That explained why the girl was familiar, and yet she must have looked at this picture and read these words before, but why did they now make her feel angry?**

**Closing her eyes, she tried to remember. But the first image she kept coming back to was the bright white of the sarcophagus. She opened her eyes and stared at the image again. Abruptly she shut the hologram off, and picked up the syringe, examining the drops of amber fluid remaining at the tip of the needle.**

**Perhaps the dose had just not been strong enough. She carried the syringe over to the beakers where she had been preparing the mixture. The master had suggested she try the formula on the girl. Pushing the inexplicable feelings of anger at that suggestion aside, she considered the possibility. The research notes said that previous experiments on the girl had failed. **

**She inserted the syringe into the liquid in the beaker, and filled it again. Holding it up to the light, she took a deep breath. She tightened the makeshift leather tourniquet around her arm again, balled her fist, and inserted the needle.**


	9. Chapter 9

**"You sure about this Cass?" O'Neill asked for the third time as they crept slowly back up the hallway to Janet's lab. **

**"You said it was just a matter of time till they find the jaffa you and Sam attacked," she whispered back. "And whatever we do, we have to do now. If I can just talk to her, without him there, I know I can get her to remember me."**

**"Right then, here goes." Jack jammed his helmet back down on his head, and grabbed Cassie, gently pulling her arms behind her back. He guided her around the corner, and stopped in front of the jaffa guarding the door.**

**"Doc wants the girl," he told the jaffa. "For experimenting." **

**On cue, Cassie started struggling, wriggling in his arms and stomping on his foot. Her sock-clad feet didn't make much of an impact through his boots, but he grunted in surprise. Kid would make a good actor.**

**The other jaffa frowned. "She told me nothing. She has not opened the door since the master left."**

**Good, Ba'al was gone. Jack shrugged. "I have my orders." Cassie struggled harder and threatened to bite. He swore under his breath, something he'd heard Teal'c say once and from the context he gathered was bad. "Best let us in before I kill the whelp, and she has to experiment on you instead."**

**Still frowning, the jaffa stepped aside, and Jack waved at the door to open it. **

**Through the open door they could see Janet in the center of the lab. She turned at the sound of the door, her eyes widened in surprise. She was holding a syringe in her right hand, her left elbow crooked, and the needle almost touching her skin.**

**"No!" Cassie cried out. She jerked herself free from Jack and burst into the room. "Mom, no! Don't do it!"**

**"Oh crap," Jack muttered. He turned on his heel and fired his zat twice at the jaffa before he could sound the alarm. Turning back, he looked at Janet, backing away from Cassie. "This is for your own good Doc," he called. Raising the zat again he fired at her once. She crumpled to the floor, engulfed in blue fire.**

**"Jack! What did you do that for?" Cassie glared at him angrily, as she knelt beside the doctor, trying to still her tremors.**

**"To stop her from doing what you were shouting at her not to do," he answered defensively. "And you need to quiet down before you have the whole ship bearing down on us."**

**Cassie blinked, then whispered "sorry."**

**Jack nodded in satisfaction. "Okay. So, Doc," he eyed the woman now lying still on the floor. "You coming with us, or what?"**

**Janet allowed Cassie to help her sit as she regarded him with a stony gaze. "You shot me."**

**"Yeah, sorry." Jack kicked the syringe from where it had fallen next to the doctor, across the floor and under the table. "Couldn't let you inject yourself with," he looked at Cassie and raised an eyebrow. She shrugged. "Whatever the hell that was," he finished.**

**"The first dose did not work," Janet told them. "More is required." She pulled herself away from Cassie and stood. "I do not have to explain myself to you. My lord will come."**

**"Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of," Jack gave Cassie a pleading look.**

**"You don't have to stay here and work for him," Cassie said urgently. "He's a goa'uld. You've spent years fighting him and his kind. Come with us. Come home." She held out her hand to Janet, inching closer as the doctor inched further away. **

**Jack could see doubt in Janet's eyes even as she shook her head. "You were the test subject of the other scientist. You are not my child. I have never given birth."**

**Cassie paled at the mention of Nirrti, but recovered quickly. "You didn't give birth to me. You adopted me. You saved me from the other scientist. Remember, Mom, please."**

**"I am Kassandra," Janet was pressed up against the lab table now. "I am very close to developing a genetic superior host for my master."**

**"No, I am Cassandra. You are Janet Fraiser, and you have no master."**

**An unmistakable clanking of metal armor sounded in the hallway.**

**"Time's up," Jack said, grasping a weapon tightly in each hand. "We gotta go."**

**The door slid open and jaffa spilled in. In the center of them strode Ba'al. He stopped a few feet from Jack and folded his arms. "Well, well, Colonel O'Neill."**

**"Actually, it's General O'Neill now," Jack informed him, holding the goa'uld's gaze while trying to decide how many jaffa he could take out with two shots.**

**"How nice for you," Ba'al said dryly. "I see you are still up to your old tricks of trying to steal my women."**

**"She isn't your woman," Cassie said angrily.**

**"Is she not?" Ba'al turned to Cassie, regarding her thoughtfully. He stepped closer to her, and reached out, grabbing her roughly by the arm. Pulling her toward him, so that she was almost pressed against his chest. With his other hand he grasped her chin, twisting her head to examine her face. Cassie struggled, but he only tightened his hold. "You are far too much trouble for a such a pretty little thing."**

**The jaffa were still, watching and waiting for orders from their master. Jack stole a glance at Janet. She was also still. Too still. The expression on her face was one Jack was very familiar with. He was used to seeing it when she caught him trying to sneak out of the infirmary after being expressly ordered to bedrest. Only this time, it was directed at Ba'al.**

**Allowing the barest hint of a triumphant smile to touch his lips, Jack spoke up loudly. "So what are you going to do with her, then?"**

**Ba'al's lips twisted cruelly. "I had thought to make her into the first genetically improved host. But now I'm not sure she is worth the trouble." He flicked his wrist and a gleaming dagger appeared in his hand. He held the blade to Cassie's throat and she immediately went still, her eyes widening in fear.**

**Jack went still too, not daring to look away.**

**"What do you think, O'Neill?" Ba'al asked mockingly. "Should I hand her over to the jaffa,or should I just slit her throat right now and have done with it?"**

**"No!" Jack heard the word, but it wasn't his voice. Nor Cassie's. The next thing he knew, the zat and service revolver he was holding were ripped out of his hands and flying across the room. There were shouts from the jaffa, as their weapons also flew across the room, landing in a pile with his, and with Ba'al's dagger.**

**Cassie took the opportunity to pull away from Ba'al and join Janet, who was standing just feet away from Ba'al and glaring in fury.**

**"Are you all right?" Janet asked, not taking her angry eyes off the goa'uld's face. Cassie nodded, rubbing her neck.**

**"Chat later," Jack said, coming up behind them and grabbing each by an elbow. "We've gotta move quick." He jerked his head toward the Jaffa who had recovered from their shock and were scrambling for their weapons.**

**"I'll take care of them." At Janet's words, lab equipment began to fly. Beakers, rocks, and metal instruments slammed into the jaffa, as they swirled like a tornado about the room. "Keep low, sir," she added. "I haven't got it to be selective yet."**

**"I noticed that," Jack said, ducking as a vial flew over his head. He gave Cassie a shove toward the door, and took one look back at where the jaffa were grouping around their master to protect him. He gave a sigh of regret. "Next time," he muttered. Taking Janet's hand, he tugged her behind him out into the corridor. **

**"How long can you keep that up?" he panted as they ran down the hall to where the rings were located.**

**"I don't know," she panted back.**

**"T," Jack shouted into his ear piece. "Get ready to use the rings!"**

**"Uncloaking," came Teal'c's deep voice in return. "We are ready."**

**A pounding down the corridor behind him told Jack that Janet's tornado had given out. Just a few feet further, and he could see the tracing of the circle on the floor. He pulled the two women into the circle, wrapping his arms around them to shield them.**

**"Now!" he called. And amid bursts of staff fire, the rings descended.**

**Teal'c waited at the edge of the bay as the rings disappeared, leaving three slightly smoldering figures in their wake. General O'Neill, dressed in jaffa armor, the back of which was smoking. Cassandra Fraiser, dressed in what appeared to be earth sleepwear and wearing no shoes. And last of all Janet Fraiser, dressed in - Teal'c eyebrow shot up - a leather outfit worthy of Hathor.**

**"O'Neill, are you all right?" He started to ask when Samantha Carter pushed past him and began to tug at the general's armor, cursing under her breath as the hot metal burnt her fingers.**

**"Fine, fine, just a little... toasty." O'Neill grimaced as Carter successfully got the armor free, along with the shredded remains of his shirt. His bare back revealed red, blistered skin. Painful, but hardly lethal. Teal'c breathed out in relief and turned his attention toward the other two people.**

**"Cassie!" Kar'yn stood in the doorway of the bay, her smile fading as she looked at her friend. Cassandra Fraiser knelt beside the doctor who sat limply on the floor, just staring ahead. "We're cloaked, and Ryac says no one pursues us," she told Teal'c quietly.**

**"Are you injured?" Teal'c asked gently, kneeling beside Cassie, Kar'yn moving behind him.**

**Cassandra shook her head, but her face had a worried expression. "Mom?" She shook Janet Fraiser's shoulder, but the doctor didn't respond. Cassie brushed her fingers against her mother's forehead, and looked up anxiously at Teal'c. "She feels cold." Kar'yn removed her cloak and draped it around Janet. Teal'c placed his hand on Cassie's shoulder. "We will be back on our world soon," he told her. "All will be well. Let her rest."**

**"Ow!" They all turned to look as O'Neill jerked away from Carter, who was trying to apply burn cream to his back. **

**"Let her put the cream on, sir." Janet spoke quietly, but everyone else grew completely still and turned to stare at her. "Unless you want more blisters than you already have."**

**O'Neill lowered himself to the floor beside her, crossing his legs and grunting as his knees cracked. He rested his elbows on them and looked her in the eye. "So Doc," he said. "Are you saying I'll live?"**

**Cassie prepared the tray carefully. Bread, cheese, a slab of some sort of meat that she still wasn't quite sure of but that Kar'yn kept assuring her would do wonders for healing and strength. A small bowl of fruit, a large mug of tea and a bottle of Evian, contribution from Jack. **

**"Why does the Air Force use such fancy water?" she asked the general, who lounged in the doorway, arms crossed gingerly over a very baggy tee shirt. **

**He grinned. "Because we can." He gestured to the tray. "You've got enough there to feed an army of Teal'cs."**

**"She's been sleeping the better part of a day and a half," Cassie said. "She's gonna be starving."**

**Jack nodded wisely. "Yeah, even for llama meat, or whatever the heck that is."**

**"It's not my fault you only brought Power Bars and water," she shot back. Jack held up his hands in surrender. **

**Cassie carried the tray toward the room where her mother slept, Jack trailing behind. He held the door hanging out of the way for her, wincing only slightly as his arm went above his head. Janet was dwarfed in the huge made-for-jaffa bed. Her tousled head in the center of the pillows brought to Jack's mind a sleepy child who had snuck into her parents' bed. She peeked out from under the covers, and then sat up, stifling a yawn. Dressed in one of Kar'yn's tunics with the sleeves falling down over her hands, she really did look like a two year old woken up from her nap.**

**"How many fingers am I holding up?" Jack asked, waving his hand in the air. Cassie rolled her eyes. **

**"Funny, sir." Janet eyed Cassie's tray with interest. She scooted back against the headboard, and Cassie placed the tray on the bed in front of her. Her eyebrows rose. "Where did the free jaffa get Evian?"**

**"Thank me later," Jack said modestly.**

**"Thank you." Janet took the bottle and grimaced as her hands started to shake when she tried to twist open the top. Cassie grabbed it from her, opened the bottle and poured the contents into the empty cup. **

**"Sarcophagus withdrawal?" Jack asked gently.**

**"Apparently," Janet sighed. "It doesn't seem to be as bad as the cases you and Daniel had. Probably because of all the mucking about I did with my DNA." She poked listlessly at the fruit on the tray.**

**"It's not your fault, mom." Cassie climbed up on the bed beside her, and picked up a piece of the bread. "Here, try this. It's really good."**

**Janet obediently took the bread and bit into it. "How's your back sir?"**

**"Feels like a spent a week drinking rum on a Caribbean beach." He grinned. "which would have been much more fun, at least. You want to take a look?"**

**"You actually want me to examine you for a change?" Janet's eyebrows rose again, but then she leaned back and shook her head. "I'm not your doctor anymore."**

**"Not yet. Once we get you back to earth-"**

**"No."**

**"No? What do you mean, no?" Jack folded his arms, winced, and dropped them back to his sides. **

**"I'm not going back to earth."**

**"Why not?"**

**Janet put down the bread. She stared hard at the tray, and after a moment the empty Evian bottle rose into the air, spun in a circle, and then flew across the room to tap Jack on the forehead before dropping to the floor.**

**"Your aim has improved," he remarked. **

**"I don't want to be examined, studied, poked and prodded and all the rest of it," she said tiredly. "As the one who did the poking and prodding for so long, I know what I'd be in for."**

**"But what if there's some dangerous side effects to the drug you took? You could be ill. Shouldn't you have a doctor at least check you out?"**

**"Sir, I'm supposed to be dead," she said. "As far as earth is concerned I still am dead. Any extra time I have now, whether days or years, wasn't meant to be."**

**"One could say the same of Daniel," Jack said dryly.**

**"I'm not Daniel." Janet took a dainty bite of cheese, chewed and swallowed. "I have no illusions about saving the universe." Jack smiled at that.**

**"Where will you go?" he asked quietly.**

**"Kar'yn says she can stay here," Cassie blurted out. Jack raised an eyebrow in Janet's direction.**

**"The free jaffa could use a doctor, now that they no longer have symbiotes," she answered. "At the very least I can keep them stocked with tretonin. And it's been a very long time since I delivered a baby, but I hear it's like riding a bicycle."**

**"Yeah, I've heard that too," Jack nodded wisely. He cleared his throat. "So, it's all, er, coming back then?" he waved vaguely about his head.**

**"Some fuzzy spots, but for the most part, yes," Janet smiled at Cassie.**

**"Tell you what." Jack leaned forward over the footboard of the bed. "I'll keep this out of the official records, if you promise me to contact us for help if the occasion arises, and," he held up a finger before Janet could nod. "When I find a suitably trustworthy doctor, you have a thorough exam."**

**"Deal," Janet answered promptly. "But, General-"**

**"Jack," he corrected. "I don't outrank a dead person." He grinned. "Or so Daniel keeps telling me."**

**"Jack. One more thing." Janet glanced at Cassie.**

**"I'm staying too," she said.**

**Jack sighed and shook his head. "Cass..."**

**"I'm not from earth," she pointed out. "I've never really belonged there. And I had no idea what I was going to do with my life anyway."**

**"What are you going to do with your life here?"**

**She shrugged. "I'll find stuff to do."**

**"The jaffa will put her to work, I'm sure," Janet added. She smiled and reached up to ruffle Cassie's hair. "When I let them have her, that is."**

**Resigned, Jack straightened up and ran a hand through his hair, making bits of it stand on end. "What do I tell George?"**

**"Aren't you going to tell him the truth?" Cassie asked.**

**He looked at Janet.**

**"Off the record, of course," she said. "I think we can trust him."**

**"And Jack?" Cassie said more softly. "Tell Tessa to take good care of Colonel."**


	10. Chapter 10

**Epilogue - Three Months Later...**

**"So, how is she?" General O'Neill's voice came through a touch of static on the newly placed MALP.**

**"The wee lass is amazing!" Doctor Carson Beckett beamed, rocking back on his heels. "We could really use someone of her particular talents on Atlantis."**

**"I'm sure you could," O'Neill responded dryly, "and I'm also sure she doesn't take kindly to being referred to as 'the wee lass'."**

**"No, she doesn't."**

**"Doctor Fraiser!" Beckett jumped. "I didn't know you were there."**

**"One of my many 'talents'," Janet nodded toward the MALP. "The general is waiting for your report."**

**"Oh. Right." Beckett turned back toward the questioning camera, and cleared his throat. "I've found nothing abnormal, other than a slightly elevated body temperature, which she tells me has been constant from the beginning."**

**"And the whole... DNA thing?"**

**"Well," Beckett rocked back on his heels again, giving the appearance of being about to address a lecture hall. "As I don't have access to the original notes, and the tests she performed on herself in Ba'al's laboratory, I can only tell you that based on what she's said, the changes appear to be stable. And quite remarkable. Similar in a way to the retrovirus I developed for the ATA gene, but with a 100 percent success rate so far. If I only had access to the notes on the formula..." he gave Janet a reproachful look.**

**"Yeah Doc, we know you're the big fancy genes guy," Jack cut in. "That's why Elizabeth Weir hired you in the first place, that and your own genetic mutation." One could almost hear a smirk in the general's voice at that last. "But Janet destroyed Ba'al's lab for a reason, right?"**

**"Right, General." Janet gave Carson a stern look.**

**"So all I want to know," O'Neill continued, "is that she's healthy, and going to stay that way as far as you can tell."**

**"Aye," Carson muttered.**

**"Aye what?"**

**"Aye, the lass is fine."**

**"Good. The Daedalus is on it's way to pick you up - rendezvous in one hour. O'Neill out." The light on the MALP winked out.**

**Beckett picked up his bag. "One thing I don't understand. How did your daughter know where to find you? General O'Neill said she saw you in a dream."**

**"Nirrti experimented on Cass years ago," Janet said quietly. "One of the reasons I didn't want her research to survive. Perhaps with my attempts, some sort of connection was formed."**

**"But Cassie's DNA reverted."**

**"Then I guess some things will remain unexplained." **

**Carson sighed. "And you can live with that?"**

**"I can."**

**"If ye ever change your mind..."**

**"About the research? I won't. About the Pegasus Galaxy? I might like a change of scenery some day," Janet smiled. **

**"Well there's a cup of tea in it for you if ye do."**

**Janet made a face. "Make it coffee and you're on."**

**Carson's face brightened. "I happen to know where the absolute worst coffee is on Atlantis."**

**Janet laughed. "Goodbye Doctor."**

**"Bye just now."**

**As Beckett trudged off to his rendezvous point, Janet turned back toward the small hut she shared with her daughter. She tilted up her head and felt the sun on her face. And felt alive.**

**the end**


End file.
